By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed November 28, 2026, for a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise ahead of the 2027 general elections to test upgrades to its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and electronic results transmission.

This comes as the commission said it has commenced the distribution of non-sensitive materials to some states ahead of the 2027 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), announced the mock election on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative, with the theme, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot.”

According to a press statement issued in Abuja and signed by the Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Adedayo Oketola, Amupitan said the exercise would simulate the presidential election and enable the commission to assess the effectiveness of its accreditation and electronic transmission systems before the polls.

“On the 28th of this month, we will conduct a mock accreditation and voting exercise across all states of the federation to simulate the presidential election and verify that we have gotten both accreditation and electronic result transmission right,” he said.

The INEC chairman also disclosed that the commission had introduced technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate polling unit results and figures reflecting over-voting from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Federal Character Commission has filed a four-count criminal charge against the Nigeria Customs Service and its Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi, over alleged violations of federal character requirements in the Service’s 2025/2026 recruitment exercise.

The charge sheet, which was sighted by newsmen on Friday, was filed on Thursday at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The charge accused the Customs Service and Adeniyi of failing to provide recruitment records to the commission, preventing it from monitoring the exercise and disregarding its directive to suspend recruitment and training activities.

In the first count, the commission alleged that the Customs Service failed to submit the nominal rolls for its 2025 recruitment exercise despite receiving a request for the records in a letter dated March 25, 2026.

It also accused Adeniyi of recklessly, negligently or wilfully allowing the Service to disregard the commission’s request.

“That you Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, being an officer of the 1st Defendant, recklessly, negligently or willfully acquiesced in the 1st Defendant’s failure to comply with the directives of the Commission, thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14(3) (b) of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, LFN 2004 and punishable under Section 15 of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, LFN 2004,” the first count read.

In the second count, the FCC alleged that the Customs Service and its Comptroller-General failed to invite or submit themselves to the commission for monitoring of relevant stages of the 2025/2026 recruitment exercise between September 14 and October 7, 2026.

The third count accused the defendants of continuing with recruitment and training activities despite receiving a letter dated October 23, 2026, directing the Service to suspend the exercise pending a review.

The commission alleged that the Service disregarded the directive and failed to preserve relevant records and allow its monitoring.

In the fourth count, the FCC accused the defendants of failing to provide clear eligibility criteria and comprehensive recruitment guidelines despite repeated requests between January 30 and October 20, 2026.

It alleged that the failure prevented the Commission from determining the state and zonal distribution of vacancies in the recruitment exercise.

The charges were brought under Section 14(3) of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, Cap. F7, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, and are punishable under Section 15 of the Act.

The commission listed three witnesses, including the Chairman of its Committee on Financial Services, Abdulwasiu K. Bawa-Allah, committee member Isa Jibrin Bida, and clerk of the committee, Usman Yaruwa.

It also listed 14 documents it intends to tender during the trial, including correspondence between the commission and the Customs Service, a report on the Service and records of the commission’s October 22 press conference.

The prosecution said it might call additional witnesses as the court considers necessary.

The charge followed a dispute between the commission and the Customs Service over the conduct of the 2024/2025 recruitment exercise, particularly complaints by applicants who said they were shortlisted but later excluded from the training programme.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

A former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has claimed that supporters of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) received a phone call from the grave of former President Muhammadu Buhari, urging them to vote for the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2027 election.

Dalung, an ADC chieftain, made the remark on Thursday while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he also linked the alleged message to a recent visit by Buhari’s widow, Aisha, to Atiku in Abuja.

“Last month you saw when the wife of the late president visited Atiku in Abuja. The message she took for any politician to know is that the 12 million votes have been successfully transferred. We have had a phone call from the grave of Buhari that we should vote Atiku,” he said.

Dalung argued that Atiku had inherited the political structures of both Buhari and former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, giving him a nationwide political network.

He also dismissed the possibility of President Bola Tinubu defeating Atiku in 2027, saying the ADC candidate would remain difficult to overcome even if the ruling party prevented the opposition from campaigning.

“I am confident that as events are unfolding, Tinubu, even if he would take over the ADC secretariat and stop ADC from campaigning, he cannot defeat Atiku Abubakar in 2027,” he said.

He alleged that President Tinubu is scared of 2027 election saying, “I have never seen a weak president in an election like Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If you drag anybody on the street and put him on a ballot at a contest with Tinubu, he will defeat him,” he said.