Atiku and ADC Ask INEC: Who Is Printing the Ballots, and Who Moved the Referee?

Imagine you are about to play the final of the neighbourhood cup. Both teams are warming up. Suddenly one captain asks, “Who is the referee, and why was he changed last night?” Welcome to the 2027 elections.

Atiku Abubakar and the ADC have raised questions about INEC’s ballot-printing contracts and recent staff postings. Atiku asked INEC to “confirm or deny” whether a particular company won a contract to print sensitive materials. He says information available to him suggests more than half of those materials, including presidential ballot assets, may have gone to a company whose identity and credentials are undisclosed and which is believed to be based in France.

A company in France, printing Nigerian ballots. My friend, even our ballot papers are getting international exposure before some of us have valid passports.

He also cited reports that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc may print for only 15 to 17 states, with private printers taking the rest. That’s like hiring a caterer for your wedding and hearing, “I’ll do half the rice. The other half will be outsourced.” Nobody at any wedding has ever relaxed after hearing the words “outsourced rice.”

Then there are the postings. Atiku cited reports of changes at INEC headquarters in Electoral Operations, the Voter Registry and ICT, and asked INEC to explain its criteria. The ADC went further, saying it had received complaints that officers in several northern states were replaced with officers from Lagos and the South-West. According to the reports, it named no officers and gave no documents, and said it was “not yet” accusing INEC of a nefarious motive. “Not yet” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. It is the “I’m not saying anything, but...” of politics.

Their demands are simple. Name every company engaged. Publish the procurement method, the security clearances, and the criteria for the postings. Reasonable. Transparency is like air: everybody demands it from the other side, and everybody holds their breath when asked for it themselves.

At the time of the reports, INEC had not responded. In Nigeria, silence is also a response. It means “we have heard you, we are consulting,” and the consultation is taking place in a room with no network.

There is still time. The presidential and National Assembly elections are on 16 January 2027, and the governorship elections on 6 February. That leaves plenty of time to find out who prints, who posts, and who is holding the whistle.

So whoever prints them and whoever posts them, please tell Nigerians the truth. The only secret ballot should be the one you cast, not the one that was printed.