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<p>By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa</p><div class="VjDyLpoY" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

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<p>The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review the appointment of politically exposed academics as Returning and Collation Officers for the 2027 general elections.</p>
<p>In a press statement issued on Monday, the party expressed concern over a newspaper report revealing that over 600 senior lecturers from public universities across Northern Nigeria have endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.</p>
<p>The ADC argued that this development raises fundamental questions regarding electoral credibility and conflict of interest, noting that university lecturers and vice chancellors are routinely entrusted with the sensitive responsibility of collating election results and declaring winners.</p>
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<p>While acknowledging the constitutional right of every Nigerian, including academics, to support or endorse any political candidate, the party insisted that no individual who has openly taken a partisan position should be entrusted with determining the outcome of an election involving that candidate.</p>
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<p>&#8220;The principle is straightforward,&#8221; the ADC stated. &#8220;You cannot campaign for a candidate and then be entrusted with counting the votes and declaring winners in the same election that your candidate is contesting in.&#8221;</p>
<p>The party, therefore, urged INEC to establish and publish clear criteria disqualifying academics and other prospective election officials who have publicly endorsed candidates, participated in partisan political activities, or otherwise demonstrated an obvious political affiliation.</p>
<p>Additionally, the ADC called on INEC to publish the names of proposed Returning and Collation Officers sufficiently ahead of the elections. This, the party said, would allow political parties and the public to identify and raise legitimate conflict-of-interest concerns.</p>
<p>&#8220;The integrity of an election does not begin when the first ballot is cast,&#8221; the statement read.</p>
<p>&#8220;It begins with the neutrality of the people entrusted to administer, collate, and declare its outcome. Nigerians must never be placed in a position where those who have publicly chosen a side are subsequently presented as neutral arbiters of the contest.&#8221;</p>
<p>The statement was signed by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress.</p>
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