Okinbaloye, who made the remarks during the closing segment of Politics Today, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently address concerns surrounding irregularities in the voters’ register to safeguard the integrity of the forthcoming elections.
In his closing remarks, the journalist cautioned Nigerians against assuming that electoral manipulation occurs only on election day, stressing that activities capable of undermining the credibility of an election could begin several months before voting takes place.
“This is my parting word tonight: the election is usually not rigged on election day. Don’t get it wrong. And whatever you may be, jumping around all of the town halls and the political podiums and platforms, the rigging of the election has, in fact, begun very few months ago and is still much on course,” he said.
Okinbaloye warned that failure to address the alleged irregularities promptly could compromise the outcome and credibility of the 2027 elections.
“If you don’t take action and speak up now, forget it, 2027 election is already rigged, and this is time to clean it up and make sure that it doesn’t happen,” he added.
His comments come amid growing concerns over the integrity of INEC’s preliminary voters’ register following the discovery of questionable entries, including suspicious photographs, duplicate records and images suspected to have been generated using artificial intelligence.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed that some registration officers allegedly exploited their official access credentials to introduce irregularities into the database.
The commission said its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) detected the questionable entries and helped establish how some of the irregularities were introduced.
The development has triggered calls from political stakeholders and other concerned Nigerians for greater transparency, accountability and an independent examination of the voters’ register ahead of the 2027 elections.
Okinbaloye’s intervention adds to the growing debate over the need for early safeguards against electoral malpractice, particularly in the management of voter registration records and other critical components of the electoral process.
The journalist concluded his programme by urging Nigerians to speak up and demand corrective action before the electoral process advances further.
He signed off by saying, “That’s how we close the programme tonight, everyone, and thanks for watching. I’m Seun Okinbaloye. God bless Nigeria.”
