PDP, ADC, LP, others say votes may not count in 2027, fear democracy in danger

With less than 365 days to the 2027 general elections, Nigeria’s main opposition political parties, on Thursday, expressed fears that the electorate votes may not count, unless the current level of impunity, by the ruling All Progressive Congress APC is quickly checked by Nigerians.

The leaders of Nigeria’s major opposition political parties made up of the African Democratic Congress ADC, Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Labour Party LP, New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP, amonsgt others, with a shared aspiration, said they resolved to come together to save Nigeria’s democracy from impending failure and collapse.

The group reiterated their opposition to the Electoral Act, 2026, which was recently signed by President Bola Tinubu.

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The group said the gathering which took place at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, had the blessings of the Chairmen and notable leaders of the main opposition oarties, who met and at the end “decided to collectively articulate our position against the offensive and anti-democratic Electoral Act, 2026 recently passed by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led National Assembly and hurriedly assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as other related matters that equally portends danger to our democracy.”

“We consider several provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 signed into law with such contemptuous haste by President Tinubu as a major offensive by the APC administration to subvert the will of the people in the 2027 general elections”

“This joint briefing and other collaborative efforts that would follow are therefore designed by the opposition parties to save our democracy, and more importantly, to save our country from political crisis that may follow if the will of the people are subverted yet again”.

Describing the 2026 Electoral Act as “anti-democratic”, the parties also noted that “its implementation will undermine electoral transparency and sanctity of the ballot which are fundamental to free, fair and credible elections and the bedrock of participatory democracy.”

“This obnoxious Electoral Act, 2026 is without doubt enacted to undermine democracy in Nigeria and it is part of the on-going design by the Tinubu-led APC to disorganize and weaken opposition, corrupt the electoral system, compromise democratic institutions and foist a totalitarian one-party rule on Nigeria.

The group questioned the introduction of the proviso in Section 60(3), which allows for “wide and undefined discretionary powers to the presiding officer”, adding that ” it overrides and negates the purpose of introducing electronic transmission of election results from polling units”

They expressed fear that the “negation is unambiguously intended to provide a blank check to those who seek to manipulate election results by delaying the electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the IREV on the pretext of network failure.”

The group also described the reasons advanced by INEC as ” dubious and inconsistent with reality”

“The immediate past INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, stated on record that the BVAS equipment, which operates offline, had worked with over 90% success rate across the nation, and in the event of network failure at the point of transmission, the transmitted results would be delivered successfully whenever network is available.

“This position has been further confirmed most recently by the former INEC Commissioner, Festus Okoye, as widely reported, that every polling unit in Nigeria has internet access”

They also noted that these testimonies by the two principal officers of INEC have also been strongly supported by publicly available data. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, as at 2023 Nigeria had achieved more than 95% 2G coverage, which is more than sufficient for transmission of election results from polling units

“Indeed, we find it quite ironic, that the same APC that strongly agitated for electronic voting only a few years ago is now opposed to the use of technology for mere transmission of results. The game at hand is very clear.”

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The parties also vited amendment to Section 84 of the Act, limiting political parties to direct primaries and consensus for the purpose of selection of candidates, describing it as ” clearly an overreach on the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of political parties in the exercise of their internal affairs”

“The National Assembly cannot hide under the provision of Section 228(b) of the Constitution to restrict political parties to only two methods of nomination.

“There is nothing undemocratic about indirect primaries, which create an electoral college for the selection of candidates in an objective, transparent and orderly manner.”