By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured the International Republican Institute (IRI) of its commitment to delivering free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive elections in the 2027 General Election.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, gave the assurance on Tuesday in Abuja when he received the IRI Pre-Election Assessment Mission (PEAM), led by former United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Ambassador Dr. Jendayi Frazier.
Amupitan said the visit, which runs from August 11 to 21, was timely, coming shortly after the August 15 Osun State governorship election and a day before the statutory commencement of campaigns and rallies for the 2027 general elections.
He said recent off-cycle governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun, as well as legislative by-elections, had served as operational tests for INEC’s technology, logistics and security coordination systems ahead of the 2027 elections.
According to him, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the real-time publication of polling unit results through the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal have continued to demonstrate high operational reliability, with recent off-cycle elections recording result-upload rates above 98 per cent.
The INEC chairman said the commission was scaling up its administrative and logistical capacity for the 2027 elections, which would require the deployment of about 1.4 million ad-hoc personnel across more than 176,000 polling units nationwide.
He listed continuous voter registration and voter register audits using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), improved logistics and early deployment, and enhanced accessibility for persons with disabilities, pregnant women, nursing mothers and elderly voters among the commission’s priorities.
Amupitan, however, acknowledged challenges including security threats, electoral violence, vote-buying, hate speech, disinformation and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), which he said could undermine voter confidence.
He said INEC was working with security agencies under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to enforce electoral laws, monitor campaign finance violations and prosecute electoral offenders.
He also disclosed that INEC would later on Tuesday join presidential candidates at the National Peace Committee’s signing of the First National Peace Accord on Issue-Based Campaigns, aimed at promoting political civility ahead of the 2027 elections.
The INEC chairman described international election observation missions as institutional partners rather than critics, saying their assessments and recommendations help the commission identify weaknesses, improve operations and strengthen public confidence.
He assured the IRI delegation of INEC’s transparency, open-door policy and full cooperation during its pre-election assessment mission and the International Election Observation Mission expected ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan reiterated that INEC remained politically neutral, stressing that the commission had no preference for any political party or candidate.
“Our sole mandate is to serve as an uncompromising, impartial umpire dedicated to delivering a free, fair, credible, transparent, and inclusive election that reflects the sovereign will of the Nigerian people,” he said.
The IRI delegation was led by Ambassador Frazier and included IRI Vice President, Scott Mastic; Africa Regional Director, Jenai Cox; West Africa Regional Programme Director, Sentell Barnes; and other senior officials.
