The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has raised alarm over claims that civil servants in several states are being pressured to take part in the ongoing All Progressives Congress (APC) electronic registration exercise.
Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the ADC, made the allegation in a statement issued on Sunday.
Abdullahi said the directive was reportedly being driven from the national leadership of the ruling party.
The ADC described the situation as economic coercion and forced membership, warning that it undermines the constitutional right to freedom of association.
The party said the reports pointed to a “coordinated attempt to compel public servants to surrender their freedom of association as a condition for job security, career progression, or continued access to livelihood. This is unacceptable in a democratic society,” the statement read.
The opposition party said that forcing any Nigerian into a political party amounts to a “gross violation of their fundamental human rights, as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
“Freedom of thought, conscience, and association are not privileges to be granted by the ruling party; they are inalienable rights that no government has the authority to abridge,” the statement added.
The ADC said what the APC has presented as e-registration is beginning to resemble “economic coercion and forced membership”.
“A political party that truly enjoys popular support does not need to conscript its citizens through fear, intimidation, or the weaponisation of the payroll,” Abdullahi said.
He warned that pressuring workers to register for a party they do not support “is not party growth; it is state-sponsored conscription”.
The ADC spokesperson said such actions could damage the credibility and neutrality of the civil service.
“The civil service is meant to be neutral, merit-based, and loyal to the state and the country, not to any political party,” he noted.
The party also said “inflated membership figures achieved through intimidation” cannot conceal the “growing alienation of Nigerians from a government that has failed to deliver economic relief, security, or hope”.
The ADC urged the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, labour unions, civil society groups, and the international community to take note of what it described as “a state-enabled abuse of power”.
The APC had on Friday extended its electronic membership registration exercise to February 8.
The ruling party said the extension, moved from the earlier January 31 deadline, was in response to appeals from stakeholders seeking more time for supporters to register and validate their membership.
Ajibola Basiru, national secretary of the APC, had said on January 12 that the party’s digitally verified membership could rise to between eight and nine million within two weeks of the start of the re-validation process.
