Firm Unveils Technology to End Parties Consensus Forgery , Seek inec Adoption

By Tolulope Oke

Digitalcore Solution Software engineering team submits emergency anti-forgery blueprint, warns signature fraud will destroy aspirants in upcoming party primaries if INEC fails to act

With hours to major party primaries, a Nigerian technology firm has submitted an emergency proposal to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) demanding immediate adoption of a digital system it says will prevent the signature forgery and fake consensus that have repeatedly destroyed political aspirants.

Digitalcore Solution GM Engr Bashir umar garba , present a letter dated May 15, 2026 to INEC Chairman Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, unveiled ACCT — Automated Consent & Consensus Technology, a multi-layer verification platform designed to eliminate forged endorsement letters, fake resignations, and backroom consensus imposition.

The firm warned that without the system, aspirants face the same destruction pattern that has characterised Nigerian party primaries for years: political actors announcing consensus candidates with documents the alleged signatories later deny, plunging aspirants into litigation and political ruin.
“Adopt Now or Watch Aspirants Get Destroyed”

Engr. Bashir Umar Garba, General Manager of Software Engineering at Digitalcore Solution Limited and developer of ACCT, said the technology was not a vendor product for sale but electoral infrastructure INEC is legally mandated to own and deploy under the Electoral Act 2026. “The pattern is well known. Ten aspirants contest a position. A faction announces that nine have stepped down and endorsed one person. The nine later deny signing. INEC is left with disputed paper. The courts spend years on handwriting analysis. The aspirants are destroyed politically and financially. ACCT ends this but only if INEC adopts it now.”

The submission comes as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other major parties prepare for governorship and legislative primaries across the country, with consensus arrangements already generating tension in multiple states.

Electoral Act Mandates Digital Monitoring, Firm Says

Bashir cited provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 which he said require INEC to deploy technological tools for primary monitoring. Section 84(1) of the Act provides that party primaries “shall be monitored by the Commission.” Section 87(1) requires that where consensus is adopted, parties must obtain “the written consent of all cleared aspirants” indicating voluntary withdrawal and endorsement. The firm argued that these provisions impose an obligation on INEC to verify consent through means stronger than handwritten signatures, which have repeatedly failed the test of authenticity in Nigerian electoral disputes.

The law does not say INEC may monitor. It says INEC shall monitor. The law does not say consent should be transparent. It says it must be valid and transparent. Paper alone cannot deliver that. INEC needs its own digital verification system.

How ACCT Works

According to the proposal, ACCT would require each aspirant to complete a structured verification process before any endorsement or withdrawal is recorded as valid:
● Identity verification using credentials linked to nomination forms
● Facial recognition and liveness detection to confirm physical presence and prevent impersonation
● Digital selection of endorsed candidate from an INEC-verified list
● Upload of signed document into INEC’s evidence repository
● Video attestation recording a declaration of voluntary, uncoerced consent
● OTP confirmation via the aspirant’s verified phone number, without which the endorsement is invalid
● ACCT code generation as a unique digital seal
● Blockchain anchoring creating a tamper-resistant audit trail

The system includes a public transparency portal displaying real-time consensus status, including whether all cleared aspirants have endorsed a candidate or whether the party must proceed to direct primaries.

Recent Cases Highlight Urgency

The proposal cited two recent disputes to illustrate the vulnerability of paper-based consent.
In the Gombe APC consensus controversy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami rejected the announced governorship consensus candidate, describing the process as lacking inclusivity. The firm said that under ACCT, if any aspirant had not completed the digital verification, the system would have automatically indicated that direct primaries were required, preventing the political crisis.
In the ADC signature forgery dispute involving Hon. Nafiu Bala, who alleged that a resignation document bearing his signature was forged, the firm said ACCT would have provided immediate technical verification. Without an ACCT code, the document would lack authenticated digital consent.
“Where one party presents a document and the alleged signer denies it, the system is forced into prolonged litigation. With ACCT, the absence of a verified record is itself dispositive.”

Firm Seeks Emergency Adoption

Engr Bashir Umar Garba requested that INEC:

● Review the ACCT white paper and technical architecture
● Conduct an emergency technical presentation and prototype demonstration
● Assign the proposal to INEC Legal, ICT, and Election Monitoring departments
● Approve ACCT as INEC-owned technology for pilot deployment in upcoming primaries
● Integrate the system into INEC’s existing technology framework He emphasised that the technology was developed locally and would support rather than replace INEC’s authority.
“The primaries are hours away. Every day without this system is another day aspirants can be destroyed by forged documents. The law demands INEC own this. We have built the blueprint. The Commission must act now.”

As of the time of submission, INEC had not issued a public response to the proposal. The commission has previously deployed electronic systems including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) for general elections, but has not operated a dedicated digital verification platform for party primary monitoring.

Analyst Muhammad Alhaji Muhammad say the proposal tests whether INEC will extend its technology infrastructure into party primary oversight, a gap that has left the commission reliant on party-submitted documents it cannot independently verify.