Nigeria’s digital identity infrastructure has come under scrutiny after the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, was named Director of Data Management for the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2027 Presidential Campaign Council.
The appointment has raised questions about the separation between Nigeria’s national identity data infrastructure and partisan political data operations, particularly as NIMC holds the National Identity Database containing biometric and personal information of more than 136 million Nigerians.
Coker-Odusote was listed in the campaign council unveiled on August 22 by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy alongside the NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi being named as her deputy in the same data management directorate.
The development has drawn attention from data privacy and technology commentators because of Coker-Odusote’s role as head of the agency responsible for managing Nigeria’s national digital identity infrastructure.
As NIMC director-general, Coker-Odusote oversees an institution responsible for the National Identity Database and is a certified data controller under Nigeria’s data protection framework. Her campaign role, meanwhile, involves political data management, voter statistics and campaign analytics.
The overlap has become particularly significant as Nigeria expands the use of digital identity across government services and electoral processes.
NIMC has been working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the integration of National Identification Numbers into voter registration, creating an increasingly connected digital identity ecosystem around citizens’ identity and electoral information.
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Governance analyst Ose Anih questioned the potential conflict, warning of possible “moral entanglements” if political campaign infrastructure were to gain access to systems connected to NIMC’s data ecosystem, while stressing that there was no established evidence that NIMC data had been transferred to the APC.
Other commentators have also questioned whether officials responsible for sensitive public databases should simultaneously hold partisan positions, citing concerns around institutional neutrality and public trust.
The issue is less about whether NIMC data has actually been shared with the APC and more about the governance architecture surrounding citizens’ data.
With political parties increasingly relying on voter databases, analytics, targeted messaging and digital mobilisation, the appointment has raised
About the Author
Cecilia Attah is a tech analyst with a degree from Benue State University. She covers tech news and startups at TechRegard with a focus on how technology is transforming Africa and shaping the global landscape.
