Human rights activist Aisha Yesufu has outlined what she believes Nigerians should do to protect their votes during the 2027 presidential election, following a question about the possibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) server being switched off.
An X user, TimOgbaide, had asked what would happen if INEC switched off its presidential election server again during the 2027 poll and sought suggestions on how such a situation could be prevented.
“What if INEC swift off Presidential election server again. What is the antidote? How can it be mitigated? PeterObi,” he wrote.
Responding, Yesufu argued that Nigerians should not depend solely on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), which she described as “cosmetic.”
According to her, voters should approach the 2027 election as though the process were entirely manual and remain at their polling units long enough to ensure their votes are properly counted and recorded.
“We have no business with IREV. It is cosmetic. We must approach the 2027 election as if it is manual. We are back to 2003!” Yesufu wrote.
She urged voters to remain at polling units for between 48 and 72 hours if necessary, insisting that every ballot cast must be accounted for.
“We watch every vote cast like hawks. We count and ensure each vote is counted and entered as voted,” she said.
Yesufu also warned against accepting errors in the recording of results, stressing that discrepancies between votes cast and figures entered must be challenged.
“We do not allow so called human error of votes not entered correctly. 160 cannot be zero!!!!” she stated.
She further called for all unused ballot papers to be properly cancelled and urged voters to verify that the correct figures were entered on election result sheets.
“Our business is not to trust INEC!!!!” she added.
Yesufu proposed that voters and party agents should follow the movement of election materials and results through every stage of the collation process.
According to her, voters should accompany ballot boxes from polling units to ward collation centres, then to local government collation centres and subsequently to state collation centres.
“AT NO TIME SHOULD WE ALLOW BALLOT BOXES OR RESULT SHEETS TO BE OUT OF OUR SIGHT!!!” she warned.
She further suggested that representatives from the states should travel to Abuja to monitor the final collation of presidential election results.
“From State collation centre we move to Abuja. let states send some representatives to come meet us in Abuja and stake out where Amupitan will be collating the results from all over Nigeria,” she said.
Yesufu insisted that Nigerians must remain present until the final result is announced, arguing that voting should not end when a ballot is cast.
“This election must be personal to everyone. If you vote and don’t wait for your results to be entered then you merely did paper painting not voting,” she said.
She also called on families and communities to discourage violence during the election, urging Nigerians to hold those who engage in electoral violence accountable.
“As for those that do violence, let their families know it will no longer be business as usual. Let everyone call their children to order,” Yesufu added
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