Netizens have begun registering fake names, National Identification Numbers, and incorrect pictures barely 24 hours after the African Democratic Congress commenced free nationwide online membership registration.

The party on Sunday unveiled a new digital portal as part of preparations for the 2027 general elections in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, instructing existing members to update and revalidate their details in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 and the guidelines of INEC.

However, the membership registration has been marred by several incorrect details, highlighting the porousness of the exercise, displaying cards for President Bola Tinubu, the former Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, the United States President, Donald Trump, and a host of others as members.

Reacting, an X user who identified as Maknun Alli-Oluwafuyi said, “I just registered my dog as a member of the ADC,” while displaying the membership card with card number LA-KOS-IS-53442.

Another user, who simply identified as Dr Dipo Awojide said, “Always boasting about technology. Always beating their chest about their technical expertise. But Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping can register as ADC members on their registration website. “We want to save Nigeria.” Fake. All fake!”

“I registered all Arsenal players and managers for the ADC membership. My goal is to register all Premier League players and managers, then I’ll move to La Liga,” one user who identified as Ansem Edet claimed on X.

One user who identified as IJK wrote, “ The ADC membership registration is a scam. The ADC membership registration has opened the door to potential rigging or manipulation of the party’s presidential primaries.

“I just registered using fictitious information as shown in the attached card.

1 You can register with a fictitious name. 2. You can register with a fictitious NIN. 3. You can register with a fictitious phone number. 4. No verification is done on the NIN. 5. No verification is done on the phone number.”

“These serious security lapses leave this window open for manipulation of the party’s presidential primaries that would be based on this membership registration.”

Meanwhile, the former Lagos State Governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, countered, “The recent attempts to mock the massive online registration drive of the ADC are honestly laughable. I understand the ‘city boys’ need a coping mechanism to accommodate the frightening numbers of ordinary people registering with the opposition.

“Let them keep tweeting while you keep registering. Worth noting, however, is that the online registration process is only the first step. The real confirmation happens at the ward level. That’s how structure works. That’s how credibility is built.

“So by all means, it will be such a delight to see Trump and Asiwaju show up to validate their membership at their respective wards. Imagine the photo ops. In the meantime, while they are busy drafting punchlines, let’s keep building our numbers.

Keep calm. Keep registering. A máa pàdé lọ́jọ́ ìbò.”

When contacted on Monday, the party’s spokesperson, Abdullahi, via WhatsApp, shared screenshots of fake registrations from the All Progressives Congress process, including slips listing Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump, and Benjamin Netanyahu as members.

He further wrote, “Hope you saw this too. It happened during APC registration as well. But we have taken corrective measures; you can only register now with live photos.”

However, our correspondent, who registered with fake details and fabricated a NIN at the time of this report, informed the spokesman that the live photos option could still be manipulated by covering faces or showing objects to be captured.

Abdullahi replied, “Thank you, I will pass this on to the technical team.”

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The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has criticised a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and other opposition figures, accusing them of hypocrisy over the debate surrounding electronic transmission of election results in the Electoral Act.

Wike made the remarks during a media chat on Monday while responding to opposition criticisms of the new 2026 Electoral Act recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.

The opposition had rejected a clause in the law that permits manual transmission of election results when electronic transmission fails due to poor network coverage.

Wike alleged that Amaechi had previously advised former President Muhammadu Buhari not to approve the electronic transmission provision when they were both in government.

“Remember, under Buhari, the issue of electronic transmission came. People like Rotimi Amaechi, they were in government, they said, ‘no, don’t sign, if you sign, you lose the election’.

“And this is the same person now who is coming out in public to say there should be electronic transmission, but he refused simply because he felt his boss would be affected,” Wike said.

He insisted that the new Electoral Act does not abolish electronic transmission of results but introduces a safeguard to ensure that voters are not disenfranchised when electronic systems fail.

“Now we are here, they did not say there should not be an electronic transmission. All they said is in case, and which is likely, let us not disenfranchise people by not allowing their votes to be counted,” he said.

Wike also weighed in on another debated provision in the law which mandates political parties to adopt direct primaries in selecting candidates.

According to him, the indirect primary system often enables wealthy politicians, including governors and ministers, to dominate party structures and influence candidate selection.

He argued that the direct primary model introduced in the new law would address that imbalance and give party members greater influence in the nomination process.

The minister further criticised what he described as a culture of constant complaints among Nigerians, noting that many who once condemned indirect primaries for empowering party elites and moneybags were now opposing reforms meant to address the issue.

A week ago, opposition parties, including the African Democratic Congress and the New Nigerian Peoples Party, urged the National Assembly to commence a fresh amendment process to remove what they described as “obnoxious provisions” in the Electoral Act 2026.

The parties argued that the amended law, recently signed by Tinubu, contains “anti-democratic” clauses that could undermine electoral transparency and weaken public confidence in Nigeria’s voting process.