The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately clarify reports of a planned nationwide voter revalidation exercise, warning that such a move less than ten months to the general elections could trigger confusion and disenfranchise millions of Nigerians.
At the centre of the concern is a purported leaked internal memo suggesting that already registered voters may be required to revalidate their details before the polls — a development the opposition party describes as a “recipe for chaos.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said Nigerians deserve transparency on any electoral process that could affect their right to vote, stressing that the Commission must confirm whether the memo reflects an official policy.
“If true, this development raises serious concerns and must be rejected outright as a recipe for chaos,” Abdullahi stated, warning that introducing a revalidation exercise at this stage could worsen voter apathy and suppress turnout.
With voter registration already a challenge in many parts of the country, the party argued that requiring citizens to return and revalidate their details would place an unnecessary burden on millions of eligible voters.
“It is already difficult enough to get citizens to register to vote in the first place. To now require them to return and ‘revalidate’ their registration is, in effect, to ask them not to bother at all,” he added.
Questions were also raised about the fate of voters who may be unable to travel to designated centres within the proposed timeframe, with concerns that such individuals could lose their voting rights due to administrative hurdles.
The development, according to Abdullahi, risks undermining public confidence in the electoral process and could create the impression that the Commission is enabling political advantage.
“In this case, the only obvious beneficiary of such confusion is the ruling party,” he said, cautioning that INEC must avoid actions that could expose it to allegations of aiding electoral manipulation.
Concerns were further heightened by the manner in which the proposed exercise surfaced, with the ADC noting that a major national policy should not emerge through a leaked memo just days before implementation.
“If any voter revalidation was ever required, it should have been conducted immediately after the last election, not on the eve of another,” the statement read.
Reaffirming its position, the ADC called on INEC to abandon the purported plan and reassure Nigerians of its commitment to a transparent and inclusive electoral process, insisting that the country’s democracy cannot afford last-minute administrative disruptions.
“Nigeria’s democracy cannot afford avoidable disruptions. The right to vote must not be subjected to last-minute administrative experiments,” the statement concluded.