{"id":1426,"date":"2026-10-12T08:15:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T07:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/?p=1426"},"modified":"2026-10-12T08:15:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T07:15:31","slug":"atiku-demands-full-disclosure-of-inecs-election-printing-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/?p=1426","title":{"rendered":"Atiku demands full disclosure of INEC\u2019s election printing contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disclose the companies contracted to print ballot papers and other sensitive materials for the 2027 general elections, raising questions about transparency, procurement and the security of the electoral process.

Atiku called on the commission to publish the names of the contractors, the scope of their assignments, the procurement procedures adopted and the safeguards put in place to prevent the diversion or unauthorised duplication of election materials.

The demand comes amid growing political scrutiny of INEC\u2019s preparations for the 2027 polls, with Atiku insisting that Nigerians deserve verifiable information about the production and handling of materials that will determine the outcome of the elections.

In a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku asked INEC to confirm or deny reports linking Hitech, or a company associated with it, to the printing of sensitive election materials.

He also questioned claims that a company believed to be based in France had been allocated a substantial portion of the printing work, including materials for the presidential election. The allegations require clarification from the commission and have not been independently established.

Atiku further raised questions about the reported role of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc, suggesting that its involvement might be limited to materials for between 15 and 17 states.

He urged INEC to clarify which companies had been engaged, the states and materials covered by their contracts, the value of the agreements and the security arrangements governing production, storage and distribution.

The former vice-president maintained that the identity of ballot paper printers should not remain a matter of speculation, arguing that disclosure would help strengthen public confidence in the electoral process.

Atiku questions INEC appointments<\/strong>

Beyond the printing contracts, Atiku expressed concern over reported personnel changes in INEC\u2019s Electoral Operations Department and other strategic units.

The statement referenced the reported redeployment of Isa Magaji Gum from Electoral Operations to the Voter Registry Department, the appointment of Oluyemi Titilayo Adeyemi-Showunmi to head Electoral Operations and the identification of Dr Lawrence Bayode as head of the Information and Communication Technology department.

Atiku called on the commission to explain the criteria behind the changes, arguing that the departments play critical roles in election planning, voter administration and the deployment of technology.

He said the appointments and reported changes should be handled transparently to prevent doubts about the commission\u2019s preparedness and impartiality ahead of the elections.

Hitech contract allegations<\/strong>

Atiku also questioned the possible involvement of Hitech in election-material production, citing reported business links between the Chagoury family, which owns the company, and President Bola Tinubu\u2019s family.

He referenced Hitech\u2019s involvement in major infrastructure projects under Tinubu\u2019s administration, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, as part of his argument for greater scrutiny of any potential election-related contract.

Allegations that Hitech or an affiliated company has secured a ballot-printing contract remains subject to confirmation by INEC.

Atiku called on the commission to state clearly whether the company had been engaged and, if so, disclose the contract\u2019s scope, value, procurement process and security provisions.

He also urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to clarify its role in the production of election materials and disclose relevant printing allocations, while advocating greater use of Nigeria\u2019s qualified security-printing capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disclose the companies contracted to print ballot papers and other sensitive materials for the 2027 general elections,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow7J_NDA:productID":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[38,956,324,2332,308,1073,2334,2333,342,235],"class_list":["post-1426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-2027-elections","tag-adc","tag-atiku-abubakar","tag-ballot-paper-printing","tag-bola-tinubu","tag-election-transparency","tag-electoral-integrity","tag-hitech","tag-inec","tag-nigerian-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trendsmill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/HUYRrb5WkAEeRX2.jpg?fit=1000%2C600&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendsmill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}