INEC Speaks On Preferred Candidate In 2027 Elections

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, has assured that the commission has no favoured candidate or political party in the 2027 general elections.

Naija News reports that Amupitan gave the assurance on Friday in Abuja when he received a pre-election fact-finding mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by a former Vice-President of Sierra Leone, Victor Foh.

The INEC chairman said, “INEC under my watch has no candidate and no political party.

“Our sole allegiance is to the rule of law, the sovereign will of the Nigerian electorate, and the democratic progress of our nation.”

Amupitan said the commission was currently on a readiness assessment tour of the geopolitical zones in preparation for the polls.

The INEC boss disclosed that elections would hold in 8,809 registration areas across the country’s 774 local government areas.

He said the number of registered voters had exceeded 103 million, adding that the commission had completed nine of the 14 major statutory activities in its revised election timetable.

According to him, INEC has concluded three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and completed the nationwide display of the preliminary register of voters.

Amupitan said the commission would deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for fingerprint and facial accreditation of voters, alongside its electronic result management systems.

He added that INEC had introduced the eEC8A electronic verification platform to complement the transmission and verification of results through the INEC Result Viewing Portal.

The chairman said the commission was also working with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to ensure adequate security during the polls.

Speaking, Foh said the visit was part of the regional body’s efforts to assess the readiness of member states preparing for general elections.

He said the mission, which included the Head of the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Division, Serigne Ka, would evaluate the preparedness of electoral stakeholders and identify areas where the bloc could offer support.

Foh said the mission aligned with Article 31 of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and Article 53 of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework.