The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has raised alarm over the Independent National Electoral Commission's (INEC) plan to conduct a nationwide voter revalidation exercise. IPAC acknowledged the need for periodic voter register updates but warned that the timing—amid political parties' ongoing compliance with the new Electoral Act, including membership registration and NIN verification—could disenfranchise millions. Comrade Egbeola Wale Martins, IPAC's National Publicity Secretary, said the lack of broad consultation with stakeholders risks creating an overly congested electoral process. The council urged INEC to reconsider the exercise's timing to avoid excluding citizens from the democratic process.
IPAC also reacted to the removal of Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola from INEC's official portal, calling the action premature. It stressed that contested party leaderships do not equate to a vacuum and warned that INEC's intervention could set a troubling precedent. The council urged the electoral body to act with fairness and due process in intra-party matters. On security, IPAC condemned the recent massacre in Jos, Plateau State, describing the violence as a threat to national unity. It called for urgent action by the Federal Government and security agencies to stop the killings and bring perpetrators and their sponsors to justice.
INEC's decision to push forward with voter revalidation while parties grapple with NIN-linked membership drives suggests a pattern of overreach, not coordination. The removal of David Mark's name from the ADC listing—without final court or party resolution—feeds the perception that the electoral body is increasingly willing to interpret its mandate beyond neutrality. For Nigerian voters already navigating bureaucratic hurdles, this could mean further exclusion masked as process. When an institution meant to safeguard fairness starts making political judgments, public trust erodes—one technicality at a time.
