As 2027 politicking gets intense with politicians crisscrossing across political divides in new alignments, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, announced it has received 12 additional applications from associations seeking registration as political parties, including one named ‘I Love Nigeria’ (ILN), bringing the total number of applications to 122.

    The Commission also released Supplementary Regulations and Guidelines for the Review of Election Results, as empowered by Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.

   National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, said the latest applications were received as of Wednesday, July 2, 2025, following the earlier submission of 110 applications announced on June 23.

    Olumekun said the Commission is processing all applications transparently and in accordance with the Electoral Act and Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022. He, however, noted that one association had already altered its interim leadership due to the defection of its interim Secretary to another group.

    On the review of election results, INEC explained that it has now provided clear procedures and timelines for the review of any declaration or return made involuntarily or in breach of electoral laws. Olumekun said this is in accordance withSection 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, which empowers the Commission to reverse election results declared under duress or in violation of extant regulations.

    Amid the flurry of activities around the African Democratic Congress (ADC), former Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru el-Rufai has stated that the coalition of opposition parties will also register a new party as a backup for the ADC, which they have currently adopted as a platform to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections.

   In an interview with Radio France International (RFI) Hausa service yesterday, el-Rufai stated that the coalition would consider registering a new party as an alternative option to counter potential infiltration by the APC into the ADC, which could cause a crisis.

    He lamented that the APC-led Federal Government is employing all tactics to undermine opposition parties, including luring members with promises of appointments, money, or automatic tickets in the 2027 elections.

    “Those who refuse to join the APC face threats of investigations by agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), or Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB),” he alleged.

    “The opposition parties’ alliance in the ADC is temporary, and we may register a new party as a second option, which we will move to should the ADC be instigated into crisis by the government,” he said.

    According to el-Rufai, APC’s attempts to “kill” the opposition are anti-democracy. The former governor, who is one of the champions of the alliance, accused the APC government of sponsoring crises in opposition parties: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), which he believes is a ploy to weaken them.

HOWEVER, vice-presidential candidate of the LP in the 2023 elections, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said the opposition coalition must do the unthinkable to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.

    Speaking in an interview with Trust TV, Baba-Ahmed described Tinubu as a phenomenon who waited for 16 years to become Nigeria’s president. He noted that none of those in the coalition is willing to sacrifice their political ambition for the good of Nigeria.

    “I don’t yet see anyone in this coalition who can scheme and plan over 16 years. With all due respect to Atiku, he has contested consistently—this will be the seventh time,” Baba-Ahmed said.

    “But tell me: is there anyone else in the coalition who will say, ‘Let it be the other person, and I will support them’? I’m yet to see that. Everyone seems only interested in their candidacy.”

    Baba-Ahmed said Tinubu invested in former President Muhammadu Buhari and succeeded him. “He stayed committed for 16 years and took it in 2023,” he said.

    “Tinubu gave Atiku the ACN in 2007. Gave it to Ribadu in 2011. Backed Buhari in 2015. And waited until 2023 to take it himself. I’m saying that to defeat this phenomenon called Tinubu, you must do the unthinkable. If this coalition—which I recognise—thinks it’s business as usual, it won’t work. It has to be less about individual ambition and more about Nigeria. More action, less talk. Because talk is cheap.”

    Also speaking, a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the only way to stop President Tinubu from returning to power in 2027 is for citizens to take their fate into their own hands. According to him, Nigerians cannot achieve meaningful change through wishful thinking.

    Amaechi spoke on Thursday at the public presentation of the 2025 Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey Report by the Africa Polling Institute in Abuja. “If you think you will just sit down and do that, may God be with you.”

    Amaechi criticised citizens for grumbling in private while remaining passive in the face of what he described as elite domination. He said: “The elites who are stealing Nigeria’s money are not up to 100,000 but you have 200 million Nigerians who can fight 100,000 men. They know you are not happy. But you are helpless not because the elites made you helpless, you made yourself helpless.”

    He cited examples of countries like Bangladesh, Peru, and Kenya, where mass protests forced unpopular leaders out of office. “Go to Bangladesh, right? The day they got tired of that woman, what did they do? They chased her out. Go to, is it Peru or Chile? Nigeria is the most docile society I’ve seen in my life. Please tell me, has there been any revolution without blood? Any revolution without blood is a failure,” he said.

    The Executive Director of the Africa Polling Institute, Prof Bell Ihua, presented survey data showing that 83 per cent of Nigerians have little or no trust in the Tinubu government, while 80 per cent distrust the National Assembly, and 79 per cent distrust the judiciary. He said: “This report has very telling information. Citizens are united in a shared struggle based on economic realities. The government needs to act based on this scientific data to rebuild public confidence.”  He urged policymakers to see the results as an opportunity to reorient governance.

MEANWHILE, ADC spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, has explained why Atiku, Obi and el-Rufai are still in their respective parties despite joining the ADC. Abdullahi disclosed that some of them are engaged in elections taking place before 2027.

    Speaking yesterday while fielding questions on Arise Television’s Morning Show, Abdullahi specifically mentioned el-Rufai and his group in the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as having bought forms on the platform of the party, saying they will join fully in the ADC when done with the elections.

    He said: “There are elections taking place before 2027 that these parties are engaged in, that people like Mallam el-Rufai and his group engaged in. So, they have bought forms on the platform of those parties. So, it is only sensible that you allow them to contest, the candidates to contest the election on the grounds of those parties. And when they are done with that, everybody, and as was indicated yesterday, everybody in principle is in ADC.

    “It is clear what we are doing is very clear to us. Every single person who believes that Nigeria cannot be reduced to a one-party state is in this coalition. If anyone has problems with that, that we should watch and allow Nigeria to become a one-party civilian dictatorship, then they can begin to throw up all this. We do not think it will be a smooth ride. We think it will be bumpy, but we are ready to deal with it.”