By Our Reporter
Prof. Joash Amupitan, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),has assured the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of the Commission’s neutrality and commitment to conducting credible, transparent and peaceful 2027 general elections.
Amupitan gave the assurance on Friday while receiving the ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission, led by former Sierra Leone Vice-President, Victor Bockarie Foh, at INEC’s national headquarters in Abuja.
The INEC chairman disclosed that Nigeria’s National Register of Voters had surpassed 103 million, adding that the Commission had completed nine of the 14 major statutory milestones in its revised timetable for the elections.
He said INEC had concluded three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and completed the nationwide physical display of the Preliminary Register of Voters.
Amupitan said the Commission 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.
On preparations, he explained that INEC had conducted zonal readiness assessment tours across the country’s geopolitical zones to evaluate its level of preparedness.
He also reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to deploying the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint and facial biometric accreditation, alongside electronic result management systems. He added that the newly introduced eEC8A electronic verification platform would complement result verification through the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
On election security, Amupitan said INEC was collaborating with relevant security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to strengthen security arrangements ahead of the polls.
He called for increased ECOWAS support through the deployment of long- and short-term election observers, technical assistance and collaboration in tackling challenges such as electoral disinformation, logistics and inclusive voter education.
The INEC chairman also urged the regional body to sustain engagement with political parties, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to promote peaceful campaigns and respect for democratic commitments.
Earlier, Foh said the mission was part of ECOWAS’ established practice of assessing electoral preparedness in member states approaching general elections.
He explained that the exercise was being conducted 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.
According to him, the mission would assess the preparedness of electoral stakeholders and identify areas where ECOWAS could provide support. Its engagements would include political parties, government representatives, civil society organisations, security agencies and other relevant stakeholders.
Foh stressed that the assessment was not limited to INEC but was intended to provide a broader understanding of Nigeria’s political and institutional environment ahead of the elections.
Reaffirming the Commission’s neutrality, Amupitan declared: “INEC under my watch has no candidate and no political party.”
He added: “Our sole allegiance is to the rule of law, the sovereign will of the Nigerian electorate, and the democratic progress of our nation.”
