The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has declared that the commission has no preferred candidate or political party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan made the declaration on Friday during a meeting with a pre-election fact-finding mission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by former Sierra Leone Vice-President, Victor Bockarie Foh, in Abuja.
The INEC chairman said the commission was conducting a readiness assessment across the country’s geopolitical zones as part of preparations for the elections.
“INEC under my watch has no candidate and no political party,” Amupitan said.
“Our sole allegiance is to the rule of law, the sovereign will of the Nigerian electorate, and the democratic progress of our nation.”
He disclosed that the 2027 elections would be conducted across 8,809 registration areas and 774 local government areas in the country.
According to him, Nigeria’s voter register had surpassed 103 million, while INEC had completed nine of the 14 major statutory milestones outlined in its revised election timetable.
Amupitan said the commission had concluded three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and completed the nationwide physical display of the preliminary voters’ register.
He also disclosed that INEC would deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint and facial biometric verification, alongside electronic result management systems.
The commission, he added, had introduced the eEC8A electronic verification platform to complement result management and verification through its INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
On election security, Amupitan said the commission was working with relevant security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to ensure adequate protection during the polls.
In his remarks, Foh said the ECOWAS pre-election mission was part of the regional body’s efforts to assess electoral preparedness in member states approaching general elections.
He explained that the delegation, which included the Head of ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division, Serigne Mamadou Ka, would assess the preparedness of electoral stakeholders and identify areas where the regional organisation could provide support.
Foh said the mission was being conducted in line with Article 31 of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and Article 53 of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework.
The engagement provided an opportunity for INEC to brief the regional delegation on its preparations, electoral technology, voter registration and security arrangements ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
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