INEC Takes Action as Peter Obi Announces What He Will Do To Track 2027 Elections

• INEC reaffirmed its sole legal authority to collate and declare election results, pushing back against independent tracking moves by opposition parties
• Peter Obi announced a dual transmission system to send polling unit results to both INEC's portal and his campaign's situation room during the 2027 elections
• Tech experts and lawyers were divided on whether the plan was feasible and legally backed, raising concerns about data integrity and potential abuse

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reasserted its exclusive authority to collate and announce election results in Nigeria, responding to plans by opposition parties to run independent results-tracking systems during the 2027 general elections.

The commission's position followed an announcement by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), that his campaign would build a system to receive polling unit results alongside INEC's official platform.

Speaking on Arise TV on Thursday, Obi said his team would deploy what he called a "dual transmission" arrangement, sending results to both the INEC portal and a dedicated campaign situation room. He said the goal was to ensure that figures declared at the end of the process could be traced back to what was recorded at polling units.

"We must make sure that at every polling unit, the votes are counted, the votes are recorded properly, the votes are transmitted properly," Obi said, adding that the setup should not be seen as a parallel result system but as an independent monitoring tool.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) also backed the idea. The party's national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, confirmed that the ADC was building its own capacity to independently collate results. "We are also saying that we will not trust the collation of results to INEC. We are also building the capacity to collate our results," he said.

**Tech Experts Split on Feasibility**

Technology specialists who assessed the proposal said it was technically achievable but difficult to execute at scale. Senior systems analyst Esther Folorunso said a secure mobile application could allow accredited party agents to photograph result sheets and send them to a central database in near real time. She cautioned, however, that the platform's credibility would depend heavily on the quality of data collected at the polling unit level, requiring trained agents, strong cybersecurity and offline capability in areas with poor connectivity.

Data scientist Aniekpong D. Effiong noted that parties already receive signed copies of polling unit results, including Form EC8A, and that organisations like Yiaga Africa have conducted parallel vote tabulation exercises before. What would set Obi's plan apart, he said, is its proposed scale. "Nigeria has 176,846 polling units, making nationwide coverage a major logistical and technological undertaking," Effiong said. He also warned that a parallel tally could become a rival source of election figures between the close of polls and INEC's official declaration, creating room for fake screenshots and unverified claims to circulate on social media.

**Lawyers Question Legal Backing**

Legal practitioners were equally cautious. Senior Advocate of Nigeria Abdul Balogun said such an independent collation arrangement had no legal basis and could be abused during the election. "Each party or candidate is free to have the results of the elections monitored the way it feels, but such collation cannot be binding on INEC," he said.

Law professor Ajida S. Bello acknowledged potential benefits, saying the plan could strengthen accountability, but warned that politicians would find ways to manipulate the process. Barrister Imeh Ukpong was more direct, arguing that allowing such an arrangement at this stage would disrupt the electoral process.