The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that it will not support any presidential candidate or political party in the 2027 general elections, insisting that its commitment is to electoral integrity and the rule of law.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, gave the assurance on Friday in Abuja while receiving an ECOWAS pre-election fact-finding delegation led by former Sierra Leone Vice-President, Victor Bockarie Foh.
Amupitan said the commission was intensifying preparations for the forthcoming elections through a nationwide assessment of its operational readiness across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
He maintained that INEC would remain impartial throughout the electoral process, stressing that the choice of Nigeria’s next leaders rested exclusively with voters.
The chairman said the commission’s responsibility was to protect the democratic process and ensure that the outcome of the elections reflected the legitimate choices of the electorate.
He disclosed that the 2027 polls would cover 8,809 registration areas across all 774 local government areas, with Nigeria’s voter register now exceeding 103 million.
Amupitan also revealed that INEC had achieved nine of the 14 major statutory milestones in its revised election timetable.
He listed the completion of three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and the nationwide physical display of the preliminary voters’ register among the commission’s achievements.
On the deployment of technology, he said INEC would retain the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint and facial recognition of voters.
The commission would also deploy electronic result management systems, including the eEC8A electronic verification platform, to strengthen result verification and complement the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
Addressing concerns about election security, Amupitan said INEC was collaborating with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to develop adequate security arrangements for the polls.
Earlier, Foh said the ECOWAS mission was in Nigeria to evaluate the preparedness of electoral institutions and other stakeholders ahead of the 2027 elections.
He explained that the delegation would identify possible challenges and areas where ECOWAS could provide technical assistance and other forms of support.
Foh said the assessment was consistent with Article 31 of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and Article 53 of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework.