Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the “contrived” voter registration figures emerging from Osun State must be investigated immediately.
He recently warned that the credibility of the country’s electoral process risks being undermined if the anomaly is not addressed.
Recall that figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show Osun State recorded about 393,000 new voter registrations in just over a week of the continuous voter registration exercise.
By contrast, at least 5 other states combined reported fewer than 5,000 new registrations within the same period.
Reacting, his Media Adviser, Mazi Paul Ibe, disclosed that Atiku is very much bothered about the wide margin between Osun’s new registration figures and those recorded in several other states.
He stated that proper findings must be done to confirm if the figures are legitimate or fake.
“Yes, His Excellency is, of course, concerned about it.
Any attempt, any plan, or any agenda to inflate figures in particular states, or across the country, should be investigated.
There should be an investigation so that no one is left in doubt, and so that the figures published by INEC are seen as genuine, not contrived,” he said.
He maintained that the investigation is needed to protect public confidence in the process ahead of the 2027 elections.
Atiku concluded by saying that getting rid of anything that would undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s democracy is absolutely crucial at this point.
“That is important. It needs to be investigated without delay. There is an urgency to this because what we are trying to do is to remove every obstacle that could undermine the integrity of the democratic process ahead of the 2027 general elections,” he added.
