…Also demands answers on ballot contracts and key INEC appointments

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has demanded immediate and full transparency from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over reported redeployments in key departments and the production, printing and custody of sensitive materials for the 2027 general elections.

In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the reported changes in the Electoral Operations Department raise serious questions that INEC must answer without delay. Reports indicate that Director Isa Magaji Gum was moved from Electoral Operations to the Voter Registry Department, while Mrs Oluyemi Titilayo Adeyemi-Showunmi was appointed to head Electoral Operations. Dr Lawrence Bayode has also been identified as the head of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

“These departments are at the heart of election administration. INEC must explain these decisions, publish the criteria applied and show that every appointment and redeployment followed due process, was based on merit and was free from political interference. Nigerians will not accept vague assurances on matters this serious.”

Atiku said no official should be presumed compromised because of their ethnicity, background or associations. But when reported political connections or a concentration of appointments raises public concern, INEC must provide verifiable assurances that its impartiality is protected.

Atiku said these developments cannot be separated from the Tinubu administration’s record of failure and the deep public anger its policies have generated. A government that has driven millions of Nigerians into hardship must not be allowed to turn the electoral umpire into an instrument of political survival. When sensitive election departments are reshaped and major contracts are surrounded by unanswered questions, the suspicion that a failing administration is seeking every possible advantage to cling to power will only grow. INEC must dispel that suspicion through full, immediate and verifiable disclosure.

Atiku also demanded that INEC categorically confirm or deny whether Hitech or any company associated with Hitech has been awarded a contract to print sensitive materials for the 2027 general election.

He said information available to him indicates that more than half of INEC’s sensitive election materials, including presidential ballot assets, may have been allocated to a company whose identity and credentials have not been publicly disclosed and which is believed to be based in France. He also expressed concern over reports that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPMC) may be handling printing for only 15 to 17 states, with the remaining work divided among private printing companies.

“These reports demand urgent and unequivocal answers. INEC must confirm or deny them and publish the names of every company engaged, the materials and states assigned to each, the procurement method, the security clearances obtained and the safeguards governing production, storage and delivery. Nigerians should not have to depend on unnamed sources to discover who is producing their ballots.”

Atiku said any award of sensitive election-material contracts to Hitech or a company associated with Hitech would constitute a betrayal of the neutrality expected of INEC, given the publicly reported business ties between the Chagoury family, which owns Hitech, and the Tinubu family.

“The integrity of INEC in the forthcoming election will be seriously compromised if Hitech or a company associated with it is awarded a contract to produce sensitive election materials. INEC has a moral obligation to disclose the identities of the companies awarded these contracts, particularly if the printing is not being undertaken by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc.”

Atiku said the matter demands the closest scrutiny given the public controversy surrounding major contracts awarded to Hitech under the Tinubu administration, including the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway project, which the government has defended as having been awarded through a special procurement process.

“If Hitech or any company associated with it has been selected, INEC must immediately disclose the contract, its value, scope of work and procurement method. It must verify the company’s capacity and security arrangements and give political parties a meaningful opportunity to scrutinise the process under appropriate safeguards. If neither Hitech nor a company associated with it has been selected, INEC must say so clearly and put the matter beyond doubt.”

Atiku called on INEC to make the fullest use of qualified domestic security-printing capacity and ensure that every ballot paper, result sheet and other sensitive document is accounted for and protected through a transparent chain of custody.

He also said reports concerning the printing of higher-denomination banknotes by foreign companies raise serious questions about the protection and use of Nigeria’s security-printing capacity. He urged the CBN to disclose its current printing allocations and explain the role assigned to NSPMC and any foreign contractors.

Atiku warned INEC officials that the 2027 election cannot be business as usual. Any attempt to manipulate the process, he said, must not even be contemplated. Nigerians who have been impoverished and pushed into what he described as “extreme poverty” will resist any subversion of their votes through legitimate, peaceful and democratic means.

“Let there be no mistake: Nigerians will not accept a stolen election. Any attempt to rig the 2027 polls will be met with determined resistance through the ballot, lawful civic action, and every other democratic channel available to the people. INEC officials must understand that the country is watching and that they will be held accountable for their conduct.”

Atiku said the African Democratic Congress (ADC) would closely monitor the process and alert domestic and international observers to any lack of transparency in the preparation of election materials.

“Nigerians are entitled to demand answers about the institutions and processes that will determine their votes. INEC must not ask the public to accept assurances in place of accountability,” he said.