2027 polls: You have a great deal of work to do, Atiku tells PCC

…Says technology must serve the people

The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2027 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has charged  the party’s Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC) to undertake the new assignment with the seriousness, urgency, and passion it deserved, saying “You have a great deal of work to do.”

Technology, he noted, must also serve the people and not hide the process, adding that election systems must be open to scrutiny and independent audit.

The former vice president and the Waziri Adamawa stated this on Friday at the Inauguration of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council held at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre in Abuja.

While thanking the campaign committee for accepting the heavy responsibility to serve, he described the election as a rescue mission, adding that every Nigerian with a PVC has a part to play.

“Let us urge them to dust off their PVCs and use them. In these difficult times, the ballot is more than a card; it is a powerful instrument for deciding whether life becomes affordable again.

“Accredited party agents, civil society organisations, and observers have the right to independently verify results and operate situation rooms. They do not replace INEC; they help confirm that the national outcome reflects what was recorded at each polling unit.

“Technology must serve the people, not hide the process: election systems must be open to scrutiny and independent audit.

“We demand reforms that make every polling-unit result public immediately and accessible to every Nigerian; protect the legal right of parties and observers to verify those results; and broadcast state and national collation centers live.

“We also demand independent audits of election technology before and after elections, an independent commission to investigate and prosecute electoral offenses, electoral institutions whose transparent processes command public confidence, and severe penalties for vote suppression, result tampering and fraud. These are not threats to democracy; they are safeguards for the people’s mandate.

“But transparent elections mean little if opposition parties are prevented from seeking the people’s votes.

Also speaking, the party’s National Chairman, Senator David Mark, told the committee that its task is bigger than winning an election.

According to Mark, presenting Nigerians with a credible alternative and giving them the reason to believe and trust that the essence of governance is to protect them and make their lives better is the ultimate.

Hr then charged them to go to every state, local government, ward, and every community to campaign for the party.

The Chairman of the ADC-PCC, His Excellency, Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, told the Council that by virtue of the inauguration, work according to him has started.

“Collect your voter’s card. Go out early. Stay until the result is counted and posted. Guard your vote with your eyes, not with your fists, because a peaceful people in their millions cannot be rigged out of their own country,” he said.

In short remarks, the Director-General and Campaign Manager, Distinguished Senator Austin Akobundu, said:”Our campaign will make that reality impossible to ignore,”