On 22 August 2026, the Presidency published the full membership list of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 elections. Listed as Director of Data Management is Engr. (Dr.) Abisoye Coker-Odusote (also rendered Dr. Bisoye Coker or Bisoye Coker-Odusote), the serving Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
This is not a minor advisory role. It places the statutory custodian of Nigeria’s National Identity Database — containing the biometric and biographic data of well over 130 million Nigerians — at the operational centre of a partisan campaign’s data architecture. The appointment collides head-on with the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, the Public Service Rules, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA), the newly enacted NIMC Act 2026, and the core principles of data protection that Nigeria has domesticated from international standards.
The Facts Are Undisputed
The official State House document and multiple independent publications (Daily Post, TVC News, TheCable, and others) list “Director Data Management — Dr. Bisoye Coker.” Coker-Odusote remains the full-time DG/CEO of NIMC, the agency established to create, own, operate, and protect the National Identity Database under the NIMC Act. She simultaneously holds a principal operational position in the ruling party’s re-election machinery.
Constitutional and Public Service Violations
Fifth Schedule, Part I of the 1999 Constitution (Code of Conduct for Public Officers)
Paragraph 1 is categorical:
“A public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.”
Coker-Odusote’s personal and political interest in the electoral success of the APC ticket is now formally aligned with her official duty as guardian of the most sensitive national dataset in the country. Every decision about data access, verification, harmonisation, or system integrity under her NIMC leadership will be viewed through the lens of campaign data management. That is a textbook conflict of interest.
Paragraph 10 further prohibits membership of any society incompatible with the functions or dignity of the public office. An operational directorship on a presidential campaign council is incompatible with the neutrality and public-trust character required of the head of NIMC.
Public Service Rules (2008 Edition)
Rule 030422 forbids any public officer, without express permission, from:
holding any office (paid or unpaid) in a political organisation;
indicating publicly support for any party, candidate or policy; or
engaging in canvassing for political candidates.
Rule 030423 requires that any officer wishing to engage in partisan political activities “shall resign his appointment forthwith.”
Serving as Director of Data Management on a presidential campaign council is the clearest possible engagement in partisan activity. Under the Rules it is a serious act of misconduct (Rule 030402) that attracts dismissal. The constitutional right of association under Section 40 does not authorise a serving public officer to occupy an operational campaign post while remaining in office.
Data Protection Laws Offended
Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023
NIMC is a data controller of major importance. Section 24 requires that personal data be processed in a fair, lawful and transparent manner, collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes, and not further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes (purpose limitation). Section 39 mandates appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure security, integrity and confidentiality against unauthorised access or misuse.
When the same individual who determines the purposes and means of processing the National Identity Database also directs data management for a political campaign, the risk of purpose creep, unauthorised secondary use, and erosion of public trust becomes structural. Consent (Section 26) and the right to object (Section 36) are rendered illusory when the controller is simultaneously a campaign principal. The appearance — and potential reality — of political access to the national identity infrastructure violates the security and accountability obligations of the Act.
NIMC Act 2026
The new Act, signed by President Tinubu on 26 June 2026, expressly requires the Commission to operate the National Identity Database in compliance with the NDPA. It reinforces purpose limitation, mandates consent (or strictly defined legal bases) for disclosure, and positions NIMC as the root authority for digital identity and Public Key Infrastructure. Placing the DG of that Commission in charge of a partisan campaign’s data operations undermines the very trust architecture the Act was designed to create.
NITDA Act 2007 and related frameworks
While the National Information: Technology Development Agency Act focuses on broader IT policy and standards, it underpins the governance of electronic data systems across government. The dual role compromises the integrity of the digital public infrastructure that NITDA and NIMC are jointly expected to safeguard.
Nigeria’s data-protection regime draws heavily from international standards (including principles reflected in the GDPR and the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection). Purpose limitation, data minimisation, integrity, confidentiality, and accountability are not optional. A single individual simultaneously controlling the national identity database and directing campaign data management offends these principles at their core.
The Stakes Could Not Be Higher
NIMC holds the biometric keys to banking, telecommunications, voting, passport issuance, social interventions, and national security systems. The public must have absolute confidence that this database is insulated from partisan use. When the chief steward of that database becomes the Director of Data Management for the incumbent President’s re-election campaign, that confidence is shattered.
This is not an abstract ethical concern. It creates a structural risk of selective data access, targeted mobilisation using state-held identity information, and the politicisation of a foundational national asset. No amount of assurances about “Chinese walls” can erase the conflict. The appearance of impropriety is itself a breach of the public-trust standard required by the Code of Conduct and the NDPA.
The Only Lawful Course
Engr. (Dr.) Abisoye Coker-Odusote cannot lawfully remain DG/CEO of NIMC while serving as Director of Data Management on the APC Presidential Campaign Council. She must resign from one of the two positions immediately. Continued dual occupancy constitutes a clear breach of Paragraph 1 of the Fifth Schedule, Rules 030422 and 030423 of the Public Service Rules, the purpose-limitation and security obligations of the NDPA 2023, and the data-protection safeguards of the NIMC Act 2026.
Nigeria’s identity system was built to serve the Nigerian people, not any political party. When the custodian of that system is formally enlisted to manage the data operations of a presidential campaign, the line between state and party is erased. That line must be restored — by resignation or by enforcement. Anything less confirms that the laws designed to protect citizens’ data and the neutrality of public office apply only to those without political patronage.