By Aaron Ukodie
There is something deeply troubling about the reported appointment of Dr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as Director of Data Management in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s campaign structure.
This is not simply another case of a public official participating in partisan politics. The nature of the office she occupies makes the situation particularly sensitive.
NIMC is the institution entrusted with managing Nigeria’s national identity system. Its responsibilities involve some of the most sensitive personal information held by the Nigerian state — identity records, biometric information and other data relating to millions of Nigerians.
Now, the head of that institution is reportedly taking on a senior campaign role specifically concerned with data management.
That should make Nigerians pause.
The data question
The issue is not whether Dr. Coker-Odusote, as a Nigerian citizen, has political rights. She does.
Nor is the issue whether political campaigns require data. Modern campaigns everywhere rely heavily on data to understand demographics, organise supporters, communicate with voters and develop political strategies.
The problem is the potential overlap.
National identity data and political campaign data are two entirely different categories of information and must remain completely separated.
Nigerians should never have to wonder whether information supplied to the government for the purpose of establishing their identity could somehow find its way into a political campaign.
Even the perception that such a possibility exists can undermine confidence in the national identity system.
And in the age of artificial intelligence, digital profiling and increasingly sophisticated political targeting, data is arguably one of the most powerful assets in any election.
That makes the question even more serious.
Who owns the data?
The data held by NIMC is not the property of a political party.
It is not APC data.
It is not PDP data.
It is not Labour Party data.
It is national data, collected under the authority of the Nigerian state for legitimate governmental purposes.
The people whose identities are contained in that system must therefore be confident that their information will not be exploited for partisan political purposes.
The safeguards separating NIMC’s database from any campaign database should consequently be absolute, transparent and verifiable.
It should not be enough to say that there is no intention to misuse the information.
There should be institutional safeguards that make such misuse impossible or extremely difficult.
The perception problem
Public confidence is an essential component of any national identity programme.
If citizens begin to believe that registering for a National Identification Number could expose them to political profiling, targeting or manipulation, the consequences could be serious.
That is why the reported dual role of the NIMC Director-General deserves public scrutiny.
The concern is not necessarily an allegation that she has misused NIMC data. There must be evidence before such an allegation can responsibly be made.
The concern is about the potential conflict — and the appearance of one.
A person responsible for protecting the integrity of one of Nigeria’s largest repositories of personal information is simultaneously being associated with the management of political campaign data.
That is an uncomfortable combination.
The President should draw the line
President Tinubu has every right to campaign for re-election.
His political party has every right to organise its campaign and deploy modern data-management techniques.
But the government and the campaign should operate on opposite sides of a clearly marked institutional line.
The NIMC Director-General should therefore not be placed in a position where Nigerians have to ask whether her political responsibilities could intersect with her responsibilities as custodian of national identity information.
This is ultimately about more than one individual or one election.
It is about establishing a principle for Nigeria’s digital future:
Government data must never become political data.
Today it may be an APC campaign. Tomorrow it could be another party and another administration.
The principle must remain the same regardless of who occupies the presidency.
Nigeria is building a digital identity infrastructure that will increasingly underpin access to government services, financial services and other aspects of national life.
That infrastructure requires trust.
And trust requires an unmistakable separation between the data of the Nigerian people and the political ambitions of whoever happens to be seeking power.
That is why the reported appointment of the NIMC chief as a campaign Director of Data Management deserves more than political debate.
It deserves clear answers, transparency and firm safeguards.
Our identity belongs to us. It must never become an instrument of political mobilisation.
