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The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has urged Nigerians to trust his leadership to deliver free, fair and credible elections in 2027, citing improvements in recent off-cycle polls and new safeguards introduced to prevent a repeat of the controversies that trailed the 2023 general elections.
Amupitan gave the assurance on Thursday at Chatham House in London during a high-level dialogue organised in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI). The discussion was themed, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot.”
Addressing concerns over the loss of public confidence following the 2023 presidential election, the INEC chairman admitted that the controversies surrounding the exercise had severely damaged the commission’s credibility.
“First and foremost, let me speak about what happened in 2023, which resulted in a significant trust deficit for INEC—damage so large that the Commission has not yet fully recovered from it,” he said.
He explained that the commission had treated every election since then as an opportunity to identify operational weaknesses and improve voter accreditation, voting and result management.
Asked why Nigerians should trust his leadership ahead of the 2027 elections, Amupitan pointed to the conduct of the Anambra and Osun governorship elections, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council polls, the Ekiti governorship election and 16 legislative by-elections.
“Why must Nigerians trust me? Nigerians must trust me because, number one, I have conducted off-cycle elections—and observers agree that the recent election in Osun State marked a clear improvement.
“Every election is a lesson. The 2023 general election was a major lesson for Nigeria, and the Anambra election was another,” he said.
According to him, administrative reforms introduced under his leadership helped INEC declare results in Anambra and Osun the day after voting, unlike previous contests in the states that were characterised by prolonged processes. He recalled that the 2021 Anambra governorship election took about five days to conclude.
Amupitan identified insecurity, logistics and result management as the commission’s three major priorities ahead of 2027. He also disclosed that an audit conducted after the 2023 elections identified collation centres, rather than polling units, as the main source of result management failures.
He said INEC had consequently introduced technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate results and figures indicating over-voting from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“We found that the core problem of election result management and declaration in Nigeria is not even at the polling unit—it is at the collation centres.
“In 2023, there were instances of inaccurate results or results with over-voting being uploaded onto IReV. We have now devised a technical safeguard: if a result is not accurate at the polling unit, it will not go to IReV at all.
“The moment a result appears on IReV, citizens can trust what they see. By eliminating inconsistencies at the source, collation will become a transparent formality,” he said.
The INEC chairman said the commission had considered introducing an entirely new electoral technology for the 2027 polls but opted to upgrade its existing infrastructure because of the limited time before the elections.
On the malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during the 2023 elections, which he linked partly to extreme heat and storage conditions, Amupitan said INEC was building climate-controlled storage facilities across the states.
He added that the commission had procured additional devices and reduced the maximum number of voters assigned to each BVAS machine from 1,250 to 850. Polling units with more than 850 registered voters would therefore be provided with multiple devices.
To assess the upgrades, he announced that INEC would conduct a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise on November 28.
“On the 28th of this month, we will conduct a mock accreditation and voting exercise across all states of the federation to simulate the presidential election and verify that we have gotten both accreditation and electronic result transmission right,” he said.
On funding, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had received a substantial portion of its 2027 election budget but was awaiting the release of the outstanding balance. He said part of the money was earmarked for the recruitment and welfare of ad hoc election personnel, adding that the commission had been assured the funds would be released before the end of November.
He also denied operating an account on X, formerly Twitter, following social media allegations linking his phone number to a controversial account. He said an independent forensic review had been obtained and the matter referred to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector-General of Police for investigation.
Amupitan dismissed concerns that his previous legal representation in political disputes could affect his neutrality, insisting that he had acted strictly in his professional capacity as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria before his appointment.
“My loyalty is solely to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act,” he said. “Every constitutional institution—including the Presidency, the National Assembly, and state governors—owes its primary loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law.”
On allegations of irregularities in the voters’ register, including claims of an 85 per cent increase in registrants in a ward in Ebonyi State, he said INEC had investigated and resolved the complaint in line with statutory procedures. He added that the Electoral Act provided specific periods for public claims, objections and requests for certified true copies of the register.
The INEC chairman urged young Nigerians to participate actively in the democratic process and guard against misinformation, warning that digital disinformation posed a major threat to the country’s democracy.
The 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6.
