Odita Sunday 
By Odita Sunday
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said it will independently document, collate and share polling-unit results with the public during the 2027 general elections, despite a warning by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the dissemination of privately collated results.
The party said its agents would document results at polling units, while its structures would collate and verify the figures before making them available to the public.
The ADC made its position known in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in response to comments by the INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, warning against the sharing of privately collated election results.
The party argued that independently collecting, collating and sharing election results falls within citizens’ constitutional rights, stressing that INEC’s statutory responsibility to declare official results and announce winners does not, in its view, prevent citizens and political parties from collecting and sharing election information.
“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 abrogated by any of the limitation clauses,” the ADC said.
The party added: “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.”
According to the ADC, while INEC remains responsible for making official declarations and announcing winners of elections, that responsibility cannot reasonably prevent citizens from collecting, collating and sharing election results.
The party said it would continue to operate within the law while exercising what it described as its constitutional rights to access and disseminate information during the electoral process.
The ADC’s position comes against the backdrop of growing debate over the role of political parties, election observers, citizens and technology in the collection and dissemination of election results ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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