Senior Advocate of Nigeria [Dr. Olisa Agbakoba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olisa_Agbakoba) warned political parties on Wednesday that any party unable to independently collect and preserve its own election results should not contest the 2027 ballot, stressing that they cannot rely on the [Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)](https://www.inecnigeria.org/) to furnish evidence in court.
**What does Agbakoba expect from parties?**
He said parties wishing to challenge INEC’s declarations in 2027 must be prepared to submit authenticated results compiled by agents stationed at every polling unit. "If you’re not ready to monitor the elections right across Nigeria, don’t go on the ballot. Or don’t complain," he asserted.
**Why is the current practice criticised?**
Agbakoba labelled the routine of parties approaching judges to compel INEC to release data from its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) as “lazy”. He noted that party agents already sign the polling‑unit result sheets (Form EC8A) and should retain those records themselves.
**How can parties overturn the presumption of regularity?**
He explained that INEC is presumed to have acted regularly in official matters, a presumption that can only be rebutted with credible evidence. A party presenting its own verified records gives the court a “different source” to examine, whereas a party lacking such records has “no reason to question” INEC’s figures.
**Legal precedent on publishing results**
Citing the 1984 case *NUJ v. FEDECO* (INEC’s predecessor), Agbakoba affirmed that anyone may publish results already in the public domain. He clarified that INEC’s exclusive power is limited to declaring a winner, and that the Electoral Act penalises the publication of false results, implicitly allowing the dissemination of genuine ones.
**Future of result collation**
He predicted that parties will employ artificial‑intelligence tools to extract data from IReV and produce faster tallies, creating parallel compilations that could pressure INEC to improve accuracy. For media houses using AI to project outcomes, he stipulated that results must originate from IReV and be clearly attributed to the portal.
**What remains untested?**
Agbakoba observed that this approach has never been tried in previous presidential election petitions, but expressed hope that it will reshape contestation strategies in the 2027 cycle.