KEY POINTS
- INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan says the commission has no preferred candidate or political party for 2027.
- Nigeria’s voter register has exceeded 103 million, with nine of 14 statutory election milestones completed.
- INEC plans to deploy BVAS, electronic result systems and security partnerships to strengthen the elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has assured Nigerians that it will remain neutral and impartial in the 2027 general elections, insisting that it has no preferred presidential candidate or political party.
INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, gave the assurance on Friday, October 30, 2026, during a meeting with a pre-election fact-finding mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja.
The ECOWAS delegation was led by Victor Bockarie Foh, a former vice-president of Sierra Leone.
Amupitan said the commission was committed to conducting credible elections in accordance with the law and ensuring that the choices of Nigerian voters were respected.
“INEC under my watch has no candidate and no political party,” he said.
He added that the commission’s allegiance was to the rule of law, the sovereign will of Nigerians and the country’s democratic development.
The INEC chairman disclosed that the commission had commenced a nationwide readiness assessment across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones as part of preparations for the 2027 general elections.
According to him, the exercise is designed to evaluate the commission’s operational preparedness and identify areas requiring attention before the polls.
Amupitan said the elections would cover 8,809 registration areas and all 774 local government areas in the country.
He also revealed that Nigeria’s voter register had exceeded 103 million, underscoring the scale of the electoral exercise ahead.
The chairman said INEC had completed nine of the 14 major statutory milestones outlined in its revised timetable for the elections.
Voter Registration and Preparations Progress
Amupitan said INEC had concluded three phases of its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise and completed the nationwide physical display of the preliminary voters’ register.
The display exercise was intended to give registered voters an opportunity to check their details and identify possible errors or omissions before the final register is produced.
He said the commission was continuing its preparations to ensure that eligible Nigerians could participate in the elections without unnecessary difficulties.
The INEC chairman also outlined some of the technologies the commission intends to deploy to strengthen the credibility and transparency of the 2027 elections.
He said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would be used to authenticate voters through fingerprint and facial biometric verification.
The commission also plans to deploy electronic result management systems to improve the handling and transmission of election results.
Amupitan disclosed that INEC had introduced the eEC8A electronic verification platform to complement its existing result management arrangements and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The platforms are expected to support the verification and management of election results while improving transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.
