The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that the 2027 general elections will be credible, transparent and peaceful. Its chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, said the commission’s loyalty is to Nigerians.
Amupitan spoke on Friday in Abuja while receiving the ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission at INEC’s headquarters. The team was led by Victor Foh, a former vice president of Sierra Leone.
He said INEC will act impartially. He described the 2027 polls as a major test of Nigeria’s democratic journey since 1999.
The chairman said the National Register of Voters has passed 103 million names. He added that INEC has finished nine of the 14 major statutory milestones in its revised timetable. The commission has also completed three phases of Continuous Voter Registration and the nationwide physical display of the Preliminary Register of Voters.
On the scale of the exercise, Amupitan said INEC will deploy staff and technology across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This covers 774 local government areas, 8,809 registration areas and 176,846 polling units. He said the commission checked its readiness through tours of the six geopolitical zones.
INEC will again use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for fingerprint and facial accreditation. It will also use electronic result management systems. Amupitan introduced the eEC8A electronic verification platform, which he said will work with the INEC Result Viewing Portal to keep results transparent.
On security, he said INEC is working with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security.
Amupitan asked ECOWAS for closer cooperation on deploying observers and sharing technical expertise. He also asked for help tackling disinformation, logistics problems and voter education. He urged the bloc to keep engaging political parties and civil society groups, to encourage peaceful campaigns.
Foh said the visit is part of ECOWAS practice of assessing member states before general elections. He spoke alongside Serigne Mamadou Ka, head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division and Permanent Secretary of ECONEC. They said the mission follows Article 31 of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, Article 53 of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework and decisions of the bloc’s Heads of State and Government.
