ADC promises to share its own 2027 election results

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has announced that it will collect and share its own polling-unit results during the 2027 general elections. The party insists that this right is guaranteed by the constitution.

This statement comes after the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, warned against sharing privately collected election results.

On Thursday, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC National Publicity Secretary, said the party plans to gather results through its polling agents. They will then make the verified figures available to the public.

"The ADC will share our collated results with the public. Our agents will document results, our structures will collate them, and we will communicate verified figures to the public, clearly identifying their source and status," the statement mentioned.

The party believes this action is supported by their constitutional right to freedom of expression.

"We are aware of our rights to freedom of expression under the Constitution. We are also aware of the limitations associated with those rights. And we hold that our rights to collate and share election results are not stopped by any of the limitation clauses," the ADC said.

The ADC admits that INEC has the official role in announcing election results and declaring winners. But they argue that this does not stop political parties and citizens from gathering and sharing election information.

Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, guarantees freedom of expression. This includes the right to receive and share information.

The Electoral Act also outlines how to count, record, collate, and declare election results. Polling agents can receive copies of polling-unit results according to the law.

Political parties can use these records to keep an eye on the collation process and compare their figures with those announced by the electoral officials.

However, results that are compiled independently do not replace the official processes for collation and declaration set by law.

The ADC did not clarify how it would verify the figures before they are published or how they would deal with any differences between their records and those given by INEC.