The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has questioned the credibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) first-week report on new Permanent Voter Card (PVC) pre-registrations, describing the figures as “statistically implausible” and potentially damaging to Nigeria’s electoral integrity.
In a statement on Wednesday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, expressed concern over unusually high numbers recorded in the South-West, particularly Osun State.
“According to INEC, Osun State alone recorded 393,269 pre-registrations in just one week. To put this in context, Osun added only 275,815 new voters between 2019 and 2023. In other words, the state has supposedly registered more people in seven days than it did in four years,” Abdullahi said.
The party noted that the figure also surpassed historical voter turnout in the state, which peaked at 823,124 votes during the 2022 governorship election. “Now, by some miracle, nearly 20 percent of all eligible adults in Osun have rushed to register. This is not just unusual; it is statistically implausible,” the statement added.
The ADC also highlighted regional disparities, noting that the South-West alone accounted for 848,359 registrations — 67 percent of the national total. In comparison, the South-East recorded just 1,998, while the North-East posted only 6.1 percent.
“These fantastic figures suggest either another technical ‘glitch’ in INEC’s registration system or, worse, deliberate manipulation of data. In either case, INEC owes Nigerians an explanation,” the party warned.
The ADC urged INEC to conduct a forensic audit of the first-week data, publish a state-by-state breakdown of online and physical registrations, and release server logs and access records.
“The voter register is the foundation of credible elections. If compromised, it threatens not just democracy, but national stability,” Abdullahi cautioned.
