Don’t Desecrate It: The Ballot And Nigeria’s 2027 Destiny

Democracy as originally defined has to do with, government of the people by the people and for the people. Meaning that, people have the inalienable right to choose by majority, leaders that will be representing them at various levels of government without any form of impediments or unfair interference of any form.

Consequently, the hallmark of democracy is the uniqueness and sacredness of the ballot which should not be desecrated. That is, the ballot is not a mere paper rather, a unique sacred contract between the people and the state which must be honoured without prejudice. Whereas, section 63 of the 2026 Electoral Act now puts that unique sacredness in jeopardy.

One of our aims at The Unifiers Movement is to promote and sustain a credible electioneering process that will uphold a democratic system where high regards will be accorded our democratic values based on best practices and internationally recommended/recognized guidelines.

Section 63 of this act stipulates that that, ballot papers without INEC’s official mark shall not be counted. However, our attention has been directed to the obnoxious and democratically derogatory loophole of presiding officer “satisfied” such ballot is from an official ballot book. That is, presiding officers can discretionally determine authentic ballot papers at the polling units; either such has the expected security marks of INEC or not. Invariably, candidates with access to some serial numbers can print their own ballot papers which in turn can be stuffed into the ballot boxes at the discretion of the INEC polling officers. Mike Igini an Ex-INEC Rec calls this a Foundational Level Threat while, H.E Atiku Abubakar calls it a Direct Threat to Electoral Integrity while, I call it Desecration of Our Ballot to Purposefully Subvert Our Democracy.

At this critical juncture of our democracy therefore, where there is high level of mistrust of the umpire, is this section 63 not further validating more manipulations that will equally undermine the very fabrics and essentials of our democratic governance? Perhaps, some other salient questions need be asked here before we allow this section 63 lead our nation to unimagined situations that “might truncate” our nascent democracy:

1. Has this section not undermined the sanctity of democratic values within best international recommended practices and accepted standards;
2. Where is the legal definition of “Satisfied” that can’t be generically defined in all polling units across board;
3. How do we substantiate and correlate a situation whereby individuals in the name of presiding officers will be using their discretion to determine which ballot paper counts or not, bearing in mind the mistrust of these umpires;
4. Is this not an intentional way to creating manipulations, fertile ground for electoral abuse, ambiguity and recklessness within our democratic system;
5. Can this not be a scripted invitation to serious anarchy through compromising the will of the people; and by extension, scripted term elongation due probable anticipated rejection from the polls;
6. To what extent will this section 63 strengthen the already eroded confidence in our electoral process;
7. Should it even be ever imagined that, the discretion of a single individual represents the will of over 200m Nigerians and wants to regard that as credible, acceptable and responsible elections;
8. Should we now deduce that, it was because of this hidden trap embedded in this section 63 that fomented all the shenanigans experienced at the National Assembly (as personified by Akpabio) during the making of these laws with the hush-hush appendage of Tinubu within 24hrs?

To our teeming youths, democracy calls your vote “POWER” but, section 63 turned it to, “Optional”. Our religious leaders should equally note, a sacred trust is violated when fake offerings are accepted at the alter just as our ballot is our civic alter. Likewise, our women should not allow one officer’s satisfaction cancel their various civic sacrifices; and to this generation, we must fight for the ballot’s sanctity. Our sacred ballot is our sacred destiny; it is the pivot upon which Nigeria’s 2027 destiny stands. Once we allow our sacred ballot to be desecrated, then our destiny is derailed.

Now that the wind has been blown off the lid, we, the over 2m members of The Unifiers Movement across Nigeria and the diaspora in conjunction with other Nigerians, credible international democratic communities, foreign missions and embassies are saying that, this is unacceptable, untenable and democratically unethical as we can not allow the inordinate ambition of a single individual to put our nation into chaos and crisis; the ultimate negative effects that can never be overemphasized.

We therefore demand in very strong terms an urgent expunge of this section from the recently signed 2026 electoral laws. Equally, we at TUM are pleading with democratic lovers all over the world to join us in this crusade/request of ours to the extent that, the world at large cannot at this time afford the envisaged consequential aftermath this might result to before, during and after 2027 Nigeria general elections.

A word they say is enough for the wise.
Yours in national democratic values sustenance and world peace.

For: The Unifiers Movement.

E-Signed.
Dayo Kayode Ph.D
Convener & National Chairman TUM.