Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has said he and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, would make a “perfect match” on a joint ticket if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presents them in the 2027 presidential election.

In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Mohammed dismissed claims that he had already been picked as Makinde’s running mate, but admitted that the possibility remains open for the party.

He maintained that the PDP must field a Christian candidate from the South as president, with a Muslim candidate from the North as vice president, in order to reflect Nigeria’s diversity and avoid the controversy surrounding a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

According to him, “A Seyi Makinde–Bala Mohammed ticket can even match better. What Nigerians need is capacity and pedigree, which Seyi and I have demonstrated at the subnational level. But beyond us, there are several credible options within the PDP. What matters is that the party remains open and inclusive.”

The Bauchi governor further stressed that the PDP would not repeat what he described as the ruling APC’s “mistake” in 2023, noting that zoning and religious considerations must guide the party’s choice of candidates.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has expressed deep concerns over what it called the “statistically implausible” numbers released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), referring to the online voter pre-registration figures in its first-week report.

INEC reported that over 1.3 million Nigerians completed their online voter pre-registration just within the first week of the exercise. National Commissioner Sam Olumekun stated the figure was 1,379,342 as of August 24.

The ADC highlighted that Osun State alone accounted for nearly 400,000 registrations in just seven days, which it argued conflicts with both historical trends and demographic expectations.

Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, pointed out the sharp disparity: INEC’s report showed Osun had 393,269 pre-registrations in a week, exceeding the 275,815 new voters added between 2019 and 2023.

He noted that even at the height of political activity in 2022, Osun had never seen more than 823,124 total votes cast in a governorship poll. “Now, by some miracle, nearly 20 percent of all eligible adults in the state have rushed to register. This is not just unusual, it is statistically implausible,” he said.

According to Abdullahi, the South-West region accounted for 67 percent of all pre-registrations nationwide, with Osun, Lagos, and Ogun contributing 54.2 percent of the total. Meanwhile, the entire South-East region together recorded only 1,998 registrations, and five states—Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu, Abia, and Adamawa—were responsible for merely 4,153 combined.

Abdullahi suggested that these astonishing numbers might point to another technical glitch in INEC’s digital system—or possibly a deliberate data manipulation to serve a more sinister agenda ahead of upcoming elections.

He stressed, “The voter register is the foundation upon which the entire electoral process rests. If the foundation is compromised, it brings the integrity of the elections into question.”

The ADC has demanded that INEC carry out and publish a thorough forensic audit of the pre-registration data. This should include a detailed state-level breakdown of both physical and online registrations, as well as access to server logs, bandwidth usage, and regional access data for the registration portal.

The party further called on opposition groups to unite in pressing INEC for clarity, and it urged involvement from election monitors, fact-checkers, and legal advocacy organizations to scrutinize the numbers. It even invited international observers—including the UN, AU, ECOWAS, and foreign partners—to monitor the development.

“The credibility of our democracy cannot be left to chance. Silence in the face of these anomalies would amount to complicity,” Abdullahi concluded.

A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has declared that he will not vie for any political position in the 2027 general elections, explaining that his renewed engagement in politics is rooted in supporting credible leadership rather than personal ambition.

He made this statement in Kaduna during an event welcoming PDP youth defectors to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who were led by Aliyu Bello.

Although he initially planned to retire from partisan politics after his term ended in 2023, El-Rufai said he felt compelled to return—not to pursue office—but to contribute positively amid unfolding developments.

Taking aim at the current administration, he asserted that “This government does nothing but lie every day. I am not contesting for anything. I don’t want to go to the Senate. I am not contesting for any position. That’s why I am calling on you, let us join hands and ensure we remove the oppressors.”

El-Rufai added, “When I finished my tenure as governor of Kaduna State, I intended to rest but given the way things have turned out, I believe we must play our part to bring about better leadership. That is why we are back in politics.”

He stated that his current focus is to mentor and empower young people, women, and reform-minded Nigerians to take ownership of the political process.

He urged youth in Kaduna to take advantage of the ongoing voter registration, noting: “In Lagos and Osun, at least 600,000 people registered. But in Kaduna, only 60,000. Anyone who is 18 years old should go and register, even with their phone. Registration is what gives you the right to choose who governs you.”