On INEC and voters’ register matters, INEC has admitted that its own registration officers introduced AI-generated photos into the voters’ register. What is ADC-PCC’s immediate demand beyond a forensic audit?
First and foremost, I think they must identify those staff because it means that those staff cannot be entrusted with the 2027 election. And we have only three months to the 2027 election. So, first and foremost, those staff must be identified, investigated and prosecuted. It’s not enough for INEC to come out and say its staff were responsible. Who are these staff? Who are they? Did they fall from the sky? Also, don’t forget that the issue of the back-end of INEC’s system has been a subject of debate. There are non-state actors and individuals who have access to the back-end of INEC. They didn’t say anything, and they didn’t do anything about it, but now they are saying that their staff are the ones responsible. What type of staff are they? Are they the regular staff or the non-state actors who had access to their back-end the last time? I think INEC has played its game in a manner that is making it increasingly challenging to entrust the 2027 election to its care. I think that, beyond identifying these staff, they have to clean up the system in a manner that Nigerians can trust INEC. That, too, is also very, very important. They must clean up the voters’ register. And I don’t know, why is it difficult for a commission that describes itself as independent to act independently? Why is it difficult?
Should INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, take personal responsibility for this breach?
He has to take personal responsibility because it all happened under his purview. And it is not the responsibility of Nigerians to go and look for the staff who are responsible. He must produce the staff who are responsible and must also take personal responsibility because the election is in his care. It is entrusted to him. It’s in his care. So, whether he wants to take personal responsibility or not, Nigerians believe, and they will demand, that he must take proper responsibility for whatever befalls the process.
ADC has accused INEC of self-sabotage and laying the grounds for the postponement of the 2027 elections. Do you have evidence of a plan to shift election dates?
Well, it is not about whether there’s evidence or not. It is on the streets. People have been talking about it for some time: that there are plots to postpone the election. That is what people are saying everywhere you go: that there is a plot to postpone the election. And, as you can see, our presidential candidate has come out to challenge it. Our party has also come out to say that this should not happen. Okay, what other evidence are you going to search for if INEC has accepted that its own staff have sabotaged it? Or don’t you understand what they mean when they say that their staff are responsible for the AI issue? Don’t you understand what they mean? They have accepted self-sabotage. Also, don’t forget that in the last couple of weeks, there were promoters of the idea that INEC should be allowed to use AI for the election. Some people even went further to argue that it is the same thing as BVAS and others. So, you can see the process. From the beginning, people who are not INEC staff have had back-end passwords to INEC’s system. We have graduated from there to the level where we are now talking about some of INEC’s staff being responsible for the use of AI. This is just a few weeks or months to the presidential election.
On the economy and Tinubu’s borrowing, you challenged President Tinubu to show what his administration has built with loans. Are you saying all the projects listed by the Federal Government – Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway – don’t exist?
Have they been completed? Where is the completion of the projects? Which of the projects have been commissioned? Let’s check it out now. Is it in the power sector? Mr President went to Brazil to promise mechanised farming. Is that not what he promised in 2023, that he would introduce mechanised farming? He went to Brazil and brought back 2,000 tractors. In a country with 774 local governments and a population of over 200 million, he brought back 2,000 tractors. If you divide that by 774 local governments, I’m not sure you can get up to three tractors per local government. Is that how you build mechanised farming? It’s all up to you. There’s a popular saying in the government sector that whatever you want to drop for Nigerians, just drop it. It’s not up to you. Just talk about it, and it comes to an end.
Your statement asked the National Assembly to stop being a rubber stamp for loan requests. What will ADC do differently on borrowing if you win in 2027?
When ADC is elected into office in 2027, experience counts for us. Fairness counts for ADC. Equity counts for ADC. So, we are not going to abandon Nigerians by simply borrowing money without even using that money to the advantage of ordinary people. I think that is the issue. As we also said in that statement, it is not entirely bad to borrow money. But how does it reflect in the lives of Nigerians? How? Because what the government is running is like audio governance. I recall that on May 29, 2023, when the President was sworn in, I said on a popular Nigerian television station that the President came with an empty file and had no plan. The moment he declared that subsidies were gone and gone forever, without taking briefs or receiving any form of briefing, I said he came without a plan. And every day, it is becoming evident that this government came into office without a plan. He doesn’t have a blueprint. He came in with campaign jargon. And that’s why they jump from one thing today to another tomorrow. In the last four years, there have been no concrete achievements that you can point to. None. They haven’t achieved 70 per cent project implementation since 2023 till today.
On the ADC coalition and presidential ticket, the coalition parades Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Seyi Makinde, Rotimi Amaechi, Nasir El-Rufai and others. How will ADC manage presidential ambition to avoid implosion before 2027?
I think that’s a matter of strategy, which I’m not prepared to let out of the bag as we are speaking now. You understand? I think that’s purely a matter of strategy. What the coalition will do, whether it can come together or whichever way it will go, is a matter I want to leave to those who are working on it. It’s strategic.
On Thursday, Cardinal John Onaiyekan urged the opposition to unite under G100. Is ADC part of that G100 coalition, and what is your working relationship with its leaders?
That question shouldn’t be directed to me because I speak for the campaign. I don’t speak for the party. I think it’s Bolaji Abdullahi who speaks for the party, or our presidential candidate or the national chairman, who can speak authoritatively about that.
On party leadership and strategy, as Media Adviser to Senator David Mark, what is the National Chairman’s strategy to position ADC as the main opposition party ahead of PDP and Labour Party? Do we have competition among the opposition political parties? I don’t want to believe that we have competition among the opposition political parties. I think what is necessary, and what is important at this stage, is for us, as opposition political parties, to focus on the direction that will better enable us to win elections on a common ground. And I think that if you look at a survey, as we speak presently, the party that is leading among the opposition political parties is the African Democratic Congress.
ADC-PCC has been very vocal against INEC and the Tinubu administration. Is this opposition for opposition’s sake, or do you have alternative policies you are presenting to Nigerians?
Why are you asking this question at this hour? We, as the African Democratic Congress, have a presidential candidate who was the first to come out and say that the lives of young Nigerians can be made better than they are now. Clearly and unambiguously, he has spoken about affordable living. Everybody, every household, including you, my dear brother, and everyone else, is crying and complaining. Everybody is facing the challenges of hunger, healthcare, paying for health services and insecurity. Wherever you turn in the country today, there are challenges that Nigerians need to confront. And Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the ADC, the African Democratic Congress, has come out and said, look, the way we are living now, subsidy is gone and gone forever. Life has become miserable. And for three and a half years, going into the fourth year, there has been no improvement in any way. And he said, look, we can bring back subsidy and make life meaningful because oil is central to the life we live in this country. Wherever you turn, people, including the barber on the street and the vulcaniser on the street, depend on fuel. So, I should tell you that the rate at which we are buying fuel has become unaffordable for the ordinary Nigerian. Let us introduce subsidy in a manner that will make life better for the ordinary Nigerian. So, we can’t be talking about, oh, which policy? The direction of thought of the ADC presidential candidate is clear. When he says something, everybody follows, even the people who say they are running the government. It’s when Atiku comes out and speaks about the economy that they also respond. They say, okay, they will also do this. They will also make life affordable. For three and a half years, nobody has been talking about affordability. For three and a half years, they have been saying that subsidy is gone and gone forever. They even lie to us now that if we bring back subsidy, a dollar will be equivalent to N4,000. When we asked them for the model, they ran away.
INEC is expected to certify the final register by December 15, 2026. If irregularities remain, will ADC go to court to stop certification?
He will not be able to certify that register if he himself has admitted fraud in the process. How would you expect them to certify the voters’ register when they themselves have admitted fraud in the process? They have also promised to clean up the register. So, we wait for the cleaning.
You demanded that INEC disclose the contractors handling sensitive materials. Do you suspect partisanship in the printing of ballot papers and result sheets?
You see, the way the commission is operating, it will do anything to satisfy the interests it is pursuing. So, our demand is in line with the hope that we can have an election that will be free, fair and credible. That’s our disposition in ADC. And we will follow INEC as it stays on the street, bumper to bumper, to make sure that we have a credible electoral process. We can assure Nigerians of that.
What are the chances of ADC, especially its presidential candidate?
Oh, the chances of our presidential candidate are very bright. He is the only one who has a national pathway to the 2027 election. He’s the one who cuts across every zone and every region. Experience counts for him. Equity counts on his side. And fairness also counts on his side. So, he is the candidate out there to beat because he is running on a national pathway.