The Independent National Electoral Commission is to review concerns surrounding the political activities of university lecturers who may be selected to handle sensitive electoral responsibilities during the 2027 general elections.
The decision follows the public endorsement of President Bola Tinubu’s bid for a second term by more than 600 senior academics drawn from public universities across Northern Nigeria.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Victoria Ita-Messi, said the Commission would assess reports involving lecturers alleged to have openly identified with political interests and determine whether any action was necessary.
“Engaging lecturers is a Commission policy,” Ita-Messi said.
She noted that while the engagement of university lecturers for election duties remained an established INEC practice, complaints about the conduct of individual lecturers would be investigated rather than disregarded.
Ita-Messi said the Commission would scrutinise the allegations, verify the circumstances surrounding them and make decisions based on the outcome of its review. She also said the Commission would publicly communicate any decision reached.
The controversy followed a political meeting held in Kaduna, where senior university academics announced their support for Tinubu’s re-election bid ahead of the 2027 presidential poll.
The academics met at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Centre following an invitation by Ibrahim Masari, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters. Discussions at the gathering centred on the performance of the Tinubu administration and Nigeria’s political trajectory ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the academics said their decision to support Tinubu followed their assessment of developments in the economy, security, education, infrastructure and other areas of national development.
“We resolved to express our support for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, in the 2027 presidential election,” they said.
The academics, however, stressed that their declaration of support did not amount to an unconditional endorsement of all government policies.
“Our support should not be interpreted as a blank check,” the academics stated, while urging the government to intensify efforts to tackle insecurity, unemployment, rising food prices and transportation costs.
Their declaration has generated concerns because university lecturers are routinely considered for sensitive electoral assignments, including appointments as Returning and Collation Officers.
Opposition figures have consequently questioned whether lecturers who have publicly declared support for a presidential candidate could maintain the perception of impartiality if assigned responsibilities involving the collation, declaration or transmission of election results.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was among those who cautioned against appointing lecturers with publicly declared partisan affiliations as election officials.
Peter Obi also expressed concern through his media office. His spokesman, Idris Zekeri, said the public declaration by academics who could subsequently be entrusted with electoral duties raised questions about their perceived neutrality.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) also called on INEC to provide greater clarity on the process and criteria used to appoint Returning and Collation Officers.
While recognising the constitutional right of university lecturers, like other citizens, to belong to political parties and support candidates, the party argued that academics who had publicly endorsed particular candidates should not be assigned electoral responsibilities where their impartiality could subsequently be challenged.
The ADC further urged INEC to publish the names of proposed Returning and Collation Officers before elections, saying such disclosure would enable political parties and members of the public to identify and raise concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
According to the party, confidence in the electoral process is influenced not only by the conduct of voters and candidates but also by the perceived neutrality of officials responsible for administering elections and declaring results.
The development also prompted the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to distance itself from the Kaduna declaration, clarifying that the endorsement was made by individual academics and did not represent the position of the union.
ASUU President, Prof Chris Piwuna, said individual university lecturers had the right to participate in political activities but maintained that the union itself was politically neutral.
“We will never take such positions, going by our constitution. They cannot mention ASUU. Nobody can mention ASUU in that context because we’re apolitical,” Piwuna said.
He explained that lecturers could freely join political parties or support candidates in their individual capacities, provided they acted within the law, but such personal decisions could not be presented as the position of ASUU.
“Our members can belong to any political party that they want. They can do whatever they want to do under the law. We have never, and we will never endorse any political party candidate. Nobody should drag us into such things,” he said.
Piwuna also rejected efforts to link ASUU as an organisation to political activities carried out by individual lecturers or university authorities.
“It is misleading because ASUU has not sent anybody outside to participate in the electoral duties or serve as electoral officers,” he said.
The Kaduna gathering was described by its organisers as an opportunity to assess the performance of the Tinubu administration. During the meeting, the academics acknowledged that some Federal Government economic measures had contributed to increased pressure on households, citing higher living and transportation costs as well as inflation.
They nevertheless said they had identified developments in areas such as education funding, agriculture, infrastructure, business support, investment and the digital economy.
The academics also urged the Federal Government to increase investment in education, healthcare, roads, electricity and agriculture while adopting a wider and more effective approach to addressing insecurity.
