2027: CHRICED warns against politicised academics as INEC election officers

The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has warned that the 2027 general elections could face a fresh credibility crisis if university professors and senior academics actively involved in partisan politics are appointed to collate or declare election results.

The centre on Wednesday in a statement by its Executive Director, Comrade Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said deploying politically exposed academics as Returning and Collation Officers could undermine confidence in the electoral process, particularly where such officers are required to handle results involving candidates or political parties they had publicly supported.

His warning followed a media report that more than 600 senior academics from public universities in Northern Nigeria recently attended a closed-door meeting in Kaduna convened by All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and Presidential Special Adviser on Political Matters, Ibrahim Masari.

According to the report cited by CHRICED, the meeting was organised to mobilise academics to endorse and actively support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.

The organisation stressed that while university dons had every right to participate in partisan politics, such involvement could create a serious conflict-of-interest concern if the same individuals were subsequently selected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to perform sensitive result-management duties.

According to him, the credibility of an election depended not only on preventing actual manipulation but also on ensuring that electoral officers were demonstrably independent and visibly impartial.

He also warned that even where a politically active academic performed his or her duties honestly, the perception of bias could be enough to trigger disputes, allegations of manipulation, litigation and protests.

Zikirullahi said that academic titles must not be treated as automatic guarantees of electoral neutrality, citing previous cases involving university professors convicted of election-related offences.

He said, “Nigeria’s electoral history has repeatedly shown that academic credentials do not automatically confer political neutrality. Prof. Peter Ogban, an INEC Returning Officer, was convicted for manipulating and falsifying election results. Prof. Ignatius Uduk of the University of Uyo was similarly convicted for offences relating to false election results and perjury.

“More recently, concerns were raised about INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, following allegations linking him to a partisan social media account. Although INEC denied the allegation, the controversy underscores a critical truth: every individual entrusted with sensitive electoral duties must be above reasonable suspicion, regardless of status or title.

“These cases do not imply that academics are inherently dishonest. They simply demonstrate that professional status cannot replace robust safeguards, transparent selection criteria, and strict conflict of interest rules,” Zikirullahi said.

The group noted that academic credentials do not automatically confer political neutrality, citing the convictions of Professor Peter Ogban, an INEC Returning Officer jailed for manipulating election results, and Professor Ignatius Uduk of the University of Uyo, convicted for false election results and perjury. It also referenced recent controversy surrounding INEC Chairman Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, over allegations—denied by INEC—linking him to a partisan social media account.

“These cases do not imply that academics are inherently dishonest. They simply demonstrate that professional status cannot replace robust safeguards, transparent selection criteria, and strict conflict of interest rules,” CHRICED stated.

The organisation warned that if a professor publicly endorses a presidential candidate and is later assigned to collate results involving that candidate, the officer’s neutrality would be reasonably questioned—even if they act honestly. “The danger is not only actual wrongdoing—it is the appearance of compromised neutrality,” it added.

“The 2027 election must not only produce a result, it must produce a result Nigerians can trust,” Zikirullahi said.

He, therefore urged INEC to publish clear criteria for selecting Returning and Collation Officers and to introduce transparent conflict-of-interest rules requiring prospective electoral officers to disclose recent political endorsements, campaign roles, political appointments and other significant partisan engagements.

He noted that its position was not an attempt to deny academics their democratic rights but to prevent political activism and electoral responsibilities from being conflated.