The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has pledged that Nigeria’s 2027 general elections will be free, fair, credible, peaceful, and inclusive.
Amupitan made the assurance at the Electoral Integrity Summit organised by the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) with support from UK International Development in Abuja.
Represented by the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra State, Dr. Queen Elizabeth Agwu, the INEC Chairman said the Commission understands the high expectations of Nigerians and is committed to meeting them.
“Our election in 2027 will be what we expect — free, fair, credible, peaceful, and inclusive. We will meet our yearnings and desires as Nigerians,” he said.
Amupitan stressed that credible elections require collective effort, noting that INEC is only one part of the electoral ecosystem. Security agencies, civil society, political actors, voters, and government institutions all play critical roles.
“INEC is just an integral part of the election. The police, the army, civil society, politicians, and voters — everybody is part of the process,” he stated, urging stakeholders to collaborate in strengthening Nigeria’s democracy.
The summit, themed “The Triad of Trust: Strengthening the Pillars of Election Security, Financial Accountability, and Result Integrity,” focused on three core pillars considered essential for restoring public confidence in elections.
In his keynote address, Chairperson of the Africa Electoral Justice Network (AEJN), Judge Boosie Henry Mbha, warned that democracy erodes gradually when institutions fail to uphold transparency and accountability.
Drawing lessons from South Africa’s reforms, he advocated intelligence-led security planning, strict enforcement of campaign finance laws, and transparent result collation systems.
Mbha emphasised that elections must be treated as constitutional processes anchored on law, not merely periodic political events.
“If the process is not transparent, the result is not legitimate,” he said, highlighting the vulnerability of the period between vote counting and final result declaration.
He also stressed that courts safeguard legality but cannot replace strong institutional design, warning that unconstitutional changes of government across Africa threaten democratic stability.
Nigeria’s 2027 elections, he noted, will carry significant implications for West Africa due to the country’s regional influence.
The Executive Director of KDI, Bukola Idowu, raised concerns over discrepancies in results uploaded to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV), citing arithmetic errors, inconsistencies in registered voter figures, cases of over-voting, and missing ballot records.
According to him, such inconsistencies cast doubt on election outcomes and must be addressed, particularly now that the IReV platform has legislative backing.
On campaign finance, Idowu revealed that several major political parties exceeded legally prescribed spending limits, calling for stricter enforcement and public disclosure of monitoring reports.
“It appears political parties are doing whatever they like in terms of spending, with little supervision,” he said.
He further warned that insecurity and electoral violence discourage voter turnout and undermine trust in democratic processes, urging stronger collaboration between INEC and security agencies ahead of upcoming off-cycle elections in Osun and Ekiti states.
As preparations for 2027 gradually begin, stakeholders at the summit agreed that strengthening election security, enforcing financial accountability, and ensuring result integrity will be critical to delivering credible polls and restoring Nigerians’ confidence in the electoral system.