ADC, Utomi, Falana, Ezekwesili, Faults Electoral Law, Vow To Resist Rigging

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said President Bola Tinubu’s hasty assent to the controversial Electoral Act Amendment has corrupted Nigeria’s democracy and is akin to signing the death warrant of credible election in the country.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC questioned the undue haste with which the president signed the bill into law even in the face of widespread objections by citizens across the country, declaring it as part of the ruling party’s elaborate scheme to rig the 2027 election.

Similarly, some politicians and civil rights leaders, including Usman Bugaje Prof Pat Utomi, Femi Falana, Oby Ezekwesili, Usman Bugaje, Olisa Agbakoba, have faulted the new law, described the event new Electoral Act as “a scam and a coup against the Nigerian people.”

The seasoned activists, under the aegis of Movement for Credible Elections (MCE) said they will mobilise to resist attempts to rig elections.

Other members of the group, who signed the statement, are Ayuba Wabba, Bilikisu Magoro, Adewole Adebayo, Nkoyo Toyo, Ene Obi, Promise Adewusi, Peter Randy Akah, Salisu Mohamed, and Olawale Okunniyi.

On its part, ADC said the APC has drawn the battle line between the ruling party and Nigerians and vowed to mobilise citizens to frustrate rigging by any means necessary.

“With the alarmingly speedy assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the death warrant on credible elections and by so doing set Nigeria’s democracy back by several decades.

“At a time when Nigerians across generations and political affiliations are calling for stronger accountability and the full modernization of our electoral system, it is sad to see a president who likes to boast of his pro-democracy credentials hurriedly approving amendments that not only fail to improve citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.”

Going forward, the ADC said, “As a duly constituted political party in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the actions taken by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, 18th February, moving forward, the ADC affirms in the strongest and clearest possible terms that we are ready, willing, and prepared to defend the sanctity of Nigeria’s democracy using every constitutional and lawful means available to us.

“We will mobilise Nigerians toward vigilance, toward lawful participation, and toward unity in defense of their constitutional rights. We stand firm in the belief that the will of the people must prevail and that no law, however hastily enacted, can extinguish the democratic aspirations of a free nation,” the party declared.

In its statement, MCE accused President Bola Tinubu, the Senate and the House of Representatives and the political leadership of deliberately weakening mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results and undermining Nigeria’s electoral integrity.

The coalition declared it would “resist this electoral conspiracy to the last,” describing what it termed the President’s Electoral Act amendments as “a scam and a coup against the Nigerian people.”

The group alleged that federal authorities had willfully trampled on the will of the people by diluting provisions for compulsory electronic transmission of results and inserting undefined “failure” clauses capable of creating ambiguity in the collation process.

“The push by citizens across Nigeria for mandatory electronic transmission without any undefined ‘failure’ clauses is not cosmetic,” the statement read. “It is a response to decades of collation-stage manipulation, result disputes, and violence rooted in mistrust.”

According to the MCE, the decision to weaken safeguards was not accidental but a calculated choice to place personal and partisan interests above that of the country and its citizens.

Warning of Democratic Backsliding

Framing the development as a defining moment for Nigeria’s democratic trajectory, the coalition argued that nations emerging from military rule survive only when institutions are strengthened above personalities.

“At a defining moment for Nigeria’s democratic trajectory, the political class chose ambiguity over certainty, discretion over obligation, and vulnerability over transparency,” the group stated.

The MCE warned that democratic backsliding carries tangible consequences, including investor flight, social polarization, youth disillusionment and institutional fragility.

“History will not treat lightly those who knowingly preserved grey zones in electoral processes ahead of a national election cycle,” the statement added, referencing concerns about the credibility of the 2027 general elections.

The coalition further cautioned that any instability arising from an electoral legitimacy crisis in 2027 would rest squarely on those who ignored warnings and weakened guardrails, not on protesting citizens.

Call for Mobilisation

Declaring “credible elections or nothing,” the MCE said it would escalate civic actions and mobilize Nigerians to defend electoral transparency.

“We shall mobilize our citizens to the democratic battleground and resist the dangerous actions of the political class who steadily seek to derail our democracy,” the statement read.

The group maintained that Nigeria’s post-military democratic gains were hard won and must not be reversed.

“Nigerians have walked too far from the barracks to now watch politicians selfishly weaken the ballot,” it concluded.