September 7, 2025-Published by Cyril

Fresh allegations have emerged of a sophisticated rigging template being secretly perfected within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), reportedly aimed at securing victory for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.

According to insiders, the plan—coordinated by INEC’s ICT and Operations departments—is designed to manipulate the IReV results portal, compromise voter registration, and deploy duplicate “original” result sheets at polling units and collation centres. The scheme, they allege, is being refined under the outgoing Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, with his reported successor tipped to be Abdulrazak Tukur Yusuf, a controversial electoral official.

Rigging Test-Runs Since 2023

Whistleblowers claim the manipulation strategy was already test-run during off-season elections, including the Kogi, Ondo, and Edo governorship polls, where pre-prepared results allegedly appeared on the IReV portal as early as 8 a.m. on election day. Similar methods, they say, influenced several by-elections, often tilting outcomes in APC’s favour.

Voter Registration Compromised

The alleged plot is also tied to the ongoing voter registration exercise. Sources claim INEC’s Operations Department secretly provided APC with data on underpopulated polling units. Party loyalists were then reportedly encouraged to re-register in these areas, ensuring dominance at strategically weak locations.

• “This is why INEC has not released clear guidelines specifying who is eligible to register,” one source said. “Instead, individuals who lost PVCs or want to transfer polling locations are being quietly re-registered, in violation of INEC’s policy.”

IReV Manipulation and Dual Result Sheets

Under Yusuf’s supervision, INEC allegedly produced two “original” versions of Form EC8A, both bearing the same serial numbers. One copy is issued to presiding officers, while the duplicate—already filled with APC-favoured results—is reportedly reserved for upload from INEC’s situation room.

The same system allegedly extends to collation levels (ward, local government, and state). ICT-trained APC operatives are said to have access to configured BVAS machines to help replace genuine results with fabricated ones.

Legal Cover and PVC Phase-Out

To safeguard manipulated results during post-election disputes, insiders allege that INEC’s legal department will certify only the duplicate “originals,” ensuring their acceptance in tribunals.

The reported decision to phase out Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) is also linked to this plan. Without PVC reconciliation, inflated figures from manipulated polling units could easily pass BVAS accreditation checks without raising red flags.

Recruitment of Loyal Ad-hoc Staff

Sources allege INEC is preparing to fill ad-hoc and collation officer positions with politically compromised individuals, mostly civil servants and academics loyal to the APC. Some university vice-chancellors, traditionally deployed for governorship collation, are allegedly being chosen based on political loyalty rather than merit.

An example cited is the controversial appointment of Professor Edoba Omoregie as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin, despite his low ranking in the selection process. Omoregie, reportedly tied to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, is expected to play a role in future electoral collation.

The Rise of Abdulrazak Tukur Yusuf

Central to these allegations is Abdulrazak Tukur Yusuf, a former Director of Electoral Operations, accused of leaking sensitive materials to the APC during the 2023 elections. His controversial past includes serving as INEC Administrative Secretary in Kano in 2015, a year marked by a disputed APC landslide and the mysterious death of Kano’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Abdullahi Minkaila, in a house fire.

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Despite his record, Yusuf has since been elevated to National Commissioner, formally overseeing Human Resources but allegedly controlling operations. He is believed to be Yakubu’s favoured successor and Tinubu’s safest option to sustain the current system into 2027.

Tinubu’s Shortlist for INEC Successors

Beyond Yusuf, other names reportedly under consideration include Sam Olugbadebo Olumekun, a former Lagos REC, Moses Ogbe, linked to ex-convict James Ibori, and Kenneth Ukeagu, a procurement director turned commissioner. While all are alleged to have aided APC in past elections, concerns over corruption records and ethnic balancing have made Yusuf the preferred “dark horse” candidate.

This investigation, if true, paints a troubling picture of Nigeria’s electoral future, raising fears of a deliberate reversal of the reforms that once strengthened public confidence in the democratic process.

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