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Nigeria’s electoral system has always been chaotic; fraught with rigging, voter intimidation, and other irregularities that have always left a sour taste in the mouth of the international community. The build up to 2027 general elections has started.
In this report, some Nigerians suggest what should be done to have polls that would be adjudged credible and transparent by all standards.
Remove corrupt, politically exposed people from INEC – Emmanuel Obe, media practitioner; Port Harcourt
The first thing to do is to reform the electoral system by removing corrupt and politically exposed people from INEC. No matter how efficient and foolproof a system is, once those operating it are corrupt and lack character, it won’t work.
The second thing to do is to unbundle the electoral process. We don’t need the huge bureaucracy that has become a burden on the process. Electronic and real time voting, and as votes are dropping, they are uploaded and reflected on the server. The current system and processes where votes are manually done, counted, collated and reserved for declaration is open to manipulation, distortion, corruption and compromise.
The electorate should take steps to defend their votes – Amaechi Okonkwo, journalist; Port Harcourt
INEC should be disciplined enough to play its role without fear or favour, by being transparent in implementing the electoral laws and guidelines accordingly. It should avoid glitches and announcing results at ungodly hours and challenging Nigerians who disagree with them to go to court.
Similarly, our politicians should play the game according to the rules by avoiding blatant rigging, manipulation of the process that makes result sheets caricature of a child learning how to write. The electorate should vote wisely and take necessary steps to defend their votes.
Security personnel must be neutral – Eberechukwu Caleb Odunze, peace and security advocate; Benin
Credibility is not built by INEC alone. It requires every pillar of society to play its part honestly. The goal must be to create a system where the process is so transparent that the outcome is self-evident, minimising the need for disputes.
However, INEC is the primary actor, and its actions are the most critical. Therefore, there should be a technically competent and logically sound INEC that follows its own rules to effectively enhance transparency in results management. This is one of the single most important tools for building trust. Security personnel must be rigorously trained to be neutral, they should protect the process and should not to be partisan.
Elections should be fully digitalised – Favour Osaretin Evbuomwan, NGO leader; Benin
To strengthen Nigeria’s electoral system, key reforms must be implemented. Appointments into leadership positions of the electoral commission should be independent, transparent, and based strictly on professional qualifications and non-partisanship. In addition, voter registration and the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) should be streamlined and largely digitalised, with minimal offline requirements, such as biometric capturing. The full digitalisation of elections, including fingerprint-based voting systems, real-time result reflection, and electronic transmission and collation of results, will significantly reduce electoral malpractice and restore public confidence in the process.
Proper electoral reform should be done – Rev. Emmanuel Olorunmagba, cleric; Kaduna
If Nigeria must get it right in the forthcoming election, then the first thing is to ensure proper electoral reform that will captured the following amongst others: Making vote buying a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment for those involved and outright disqualification for any candidate whose political party is confirmed involved with undeniable evidences; ensuring adequate punitive measures that can include, but not limited to dismissal of any uniform personnel found conniving with party supporters or agents or candidate for election manipulation; Mandatory transmission of election results to INEC server from all polling units. Proper scrutiny of any election report sheet where there is obvious alteration, especially in both figure and words.
INEC and security agencies should make adequate provisions of channel of communication where anyone – voters, journalists, observers, election monitoring team etc can easily report any incident during the conduct of the election up to the final collation.
INEC should be made to be truly independent – Uche Esobe, public commentator; Aba
Elections in Nigeria over the years could be anything but free and fair. The party in power in the country has almost always have her way when elections are held, sweeping the polls with reckless abandon. The opposition are always said to have lost elections even in their strongholds.
For Nigeria to have elections that will be adjudged to be credible and transparent, institutions in the country should be allowed to be strong by politicians. In this way, an umpire like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), should truly be made to be independent on all fronts to enable it operate without any interference from government officials.
President should be made to stop appointing INEC chairman, commissioners – Stanley Mba, broadcaster, Aba
Nigeria, for all I know, has not been getting it right when it comes to the conduct of elections which informed the numerous litigations being witnessed in the country after every election. This makes a mockery of such elections.
For Nigeria to come out from the electoral woods, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be made to stand on its own without any interference from government. The idea of the president of the country appointing INEC chairman and the commissioners, should be discarded as those officials would tend to please the president’s party during elections because he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
Electronic voting remains the best – Ibrahim Idoko, politician; Makurdi
Electronic voting seems the best solution that we have similar to the one used during the 2023 election, but with little modification. Before 2023, the BIVAs and the IREV idea were allowed, but unfortunately, when tested in the law court against our constitution, the constitution seems not to recognise electronic transfer of votes. That became a serious hindrance to such a great idea.
So, there should be a way we can make sure that the arrangement is captured with some constitutional adjustment and laws to support it legally.
Secondly, INEC also needs to up her game. It needs to train and retrain especially its ad hoc staff that will be manning these polling units. I’m also concerned with the electronic transfer of votes immediately at the voting point.
Results must be transmitted in real time – Nelson Ogbu, political analyst; Abuja
INEC must demonstrate true independence and transparency, not just in words but in action. This means early and open preparation, a clean and verifiable voters’ register, and the consistent use of technology without selective failures. Results must be transmitted and published in real time, and every stage of the process should be open to scrutiny so that Nigerians can trust not only the outcome but also the process itself.
However, credible elections cannot be delivered by INEC alone. Political parties must reject imposition of candidates and stop treating elections as warfare, while security agencies must remain neutral and protect voters, not political interests. Citizens, civil society, and the media must also stay engaged, speak out against irregularities, and demand accountability. Without political will and collective responsibility, even the best electoral framework will fail.
BVAS must be fully functional – Alabo Martins, NGO president; Yenagoa
For 2027 to be adjudged credible by national and international standards, the following Nigeria-specific actions are critical. From INEC, reform must come from within, as the commission remains the central pillar of Nigeria’s elections. There should be full independence for the Resident Electoral Commissions. There should be no late arrival of material. The biggest controversy of 2023 was not voting but results transmission. Therefore, in 2027, BVAS must be fully functional nationwide, including in remote communities. Polling unit results must be uploaded to IReV. This must be mandatory and immediate. The National Assembly should amend ambiguities in the Electoral Act to remove human discretion in electronic transmission.
Voters’ register should be updated – Tina Ogona, student; Yenagoa
For us to get our election right in 2027, several things need to be done by INEC, which is in charge of conducting the election.
One of the issues that make ad- hoc staff of INEC engage in unwholesome electoral activities is that their welfare is nothing to write home about.
If there is improved welfare and prompt payment of allowances for the personnel, it would in no small way dissuade them from all forms of temptations to collect money from politicians.
That is one area that should be looked into to ensure a credible 2027 election.
Also, the voters’ register should be constantly updated. To ensure that free and fair elections are held and people’s votes count, there should be a voters’ register that is updated daily. There should be a mechanism to ensure that those who have died are not in the register.
INEC should have a backup system so that even when they are offline, it is accessible. Like what we witnessed in the last elections, if the devise goes off, it becomes nearly impossible to vote. There should be an offline backup system that upgrades the BVAS.
