Chinweze

Our Allegiance Is to Nigerians’: INEC Chairman Assures ECOWAS of Commission’s Neutrality #NigeriaDecides2027 The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of its commitment to conducting credible, transparent and peaceful 2027 general elections, disclosing that Nigeria’s National Register of Voters has surpassed 103 million. INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, gave the assurance while receiving the ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission, led by former Vice-President of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Victor Bockarie Foh, at the Commission’s National Headquarters in Abuja. Amupitan described the 2027 general elections as a pivotal milestone in Nigeria’s democratic journey since 1999, stressing that their successful conduct would have significant implications for democratic stability and consolidation across West Africa. He disclosed that the Commission had successfully completed nine of the 14 major statutory milestones contained in its revised timetable and schedule of activities for the elections. According to him, the Commission has concluded three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and completed the physical display of the Preliminary Register of Voters nationwide. Providing details of the scale of the electoral exercise, Prof. Amupitan said INEC would deploy personnel and technological resources across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, covering 774 Local Government Areas, 8,809 Registration Areas and 176,846 polling units. He said the Commission had adopted a field-driven approach to assessing its preparedness, conducting zonal readiness assessment tours across the country's geopolitical zones. On technology, Amupitan reaffirmed INEC’s commitment to deploying the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint and facial biometric accreditation, alongside electronic result management systems. He also highlighted the introduction of the eEC8A electronic verification platform, which, according to him, would complement transparent result management and verification through the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). On election security, Amupitan said the Commission was working with relevant security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to strengthen security arrangements ahead of the polls. The INEC chairman called for stronger ECOWAS collaboration in deploying long-term and short-term election observers, sharing technical expertise and addressing emerging challenges such as electoral disinformation, logistics and inclusive voter education. He also urged the regional body to sustain diplomatic engagement with political parties, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to promote peaceful campaigns and respect for democratic commitments. In his remarks, the Head of the ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission, Victor Bockarie Foh, explained that the mission was part of the regional organisation’s established practice of assessing electoral preparedness in member states approaching general elections. Foh, alongside the Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division and Permanent Secretary of ECONEC, Mr Serigne Mamadou Ka, said the mission was undertaken in line with Article 31 of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, Article 53 of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework and relevant decisions of the Authority of Heads of State and Government. He explained that the mission was designed to assess the preparedness of electoral stakeholders and identify areas where the ECOWAS Commission could provide support.