The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan, has, previously three weeks, been reassuring Nigerians of credible elections in 2027, however are mere phrases sufficient to earn public belief? Davidson Iriekpen asks
With lower than 100 days to the 2027 elections, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), has continued to reassure Nigerians and the worldwide neighborhood of his fee’s willpower to conduct free, honest and credible polls.
At a press convention and nationwide stakeholders’ assembly in Abuja, he pledged complete dedication to neutrality, operational excellence and the sacred integrity of the poll field within the polls.
Reeling out phases of preparedness, Amupitan mentioned that manufacturing of 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) gadgets in addition to further voting cubicles and poll containers had reached superior stage. He additionally assured that important ICT functions have been being upgraded, whereas core infrastructure was being carried out, with some states presently receiving non-sensitive supplies. According to him, printing of poll papers and outcome sheets was practically accomplished, and each crucial association had been put in place to keep away from technological glitches.
A number of days earlier, on the Guild of Online Publishers (GOCOP) assembly held in Lagos, Amupitan vowed that winners of the 2027 normal elections could be decided by the votes of the voters solely.
The INEC boss, who was represented by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Lagos, Professor Ayobami Salami, declared that his fee didn’t have a most well-liked candidate or get together and that the electoral umpire was not defending any type of institutional curiosity. He asserted that the final word success of the 2027 normal election wouldn’t be measured merely by the deployment of males and gear, but in addition by the transparency of the method and the credibility of the outcomes and the sheer dedication of all stakeholders to safeguard the sanctity of the poll field.
He mentioned: “Let me tell you, on behalf of the commission, that in the 2027 election, by the grace of God, what will determine the winner would be the votes of Nigerians, and the will of Nigerians will prevail. INEC has no preferred candidate, no favoured political party and no institutional interest, other than protecting the sacred and uncoerced will of Nigerian voters.”
Within the identical interval, on the sixth version of the Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers in Owerri, Imo State, he reiterated his fee’s dedication to conduct clear, credible and acceptable elections in 2027, reassuring that there could be no predetermined leads to subsequent yr’s normal election.
Even on the strategic workshop for Editors organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), in Abuja lately, Amupitan reiterated that the fee had no most well-liked candidate within the normal election, and guaranteed Nigerians of free, honest and credible elections in 2027.
He added that historical past and expertise had taught the fee a elementary lesson that operational perfection was inadequate by itself to ensure democratic stability.
“The ultimate arbiter of electoral integrity is public trust. That trust cannot be constructed in isolation; it requires an active, transparent, and unshakeable partnership between the electoral umpire, civil society, and the free press,” he mentioned.
It is instructive that since he assumed workplace on October 23, 2025, the INEC boss has seized each alternative to pledge his fee’s dedication to making sure that each vote would rely within the upcoming elections.
This fixed reassurance has ignited larger political curiosity within the 2027 elections.
It is well-known that since Nigeria’s return to democratic authorities in 1999, each normal election cycle is characterised by allegations of interference within the electoral course of, particularly in favour of the ruling get together. This culminated in a lack of zeal and lively participation by many individuals. Their argument is that it’s an effort in futility to take part within the election that lacks credibility and equity.
Unfortunately, the shortcoming of the fee to ship a flawless ballot created a state of apathy and concern of violence.
While many would argue that Nigeria doesn’t lack the capability to conduct credible elections, it lacks the institutional consistency, political restraint and public confidence required to make electoral integrity the rule slightly than the exception.
For many Nigerians, the 2023 normal election was the apogee. Though technologically bold with the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV portal, it uncovered deep operational and institutional flaws.
While Amupitan inherited this burden of disillusionment, as the person presently answerable for Nigeria’s electoral fee, many count on him to deal with the credibility deficit that adopted earlier elections and keep away from additional voter apathy and civic disengagement.
It isn’t sufficient for him to make lofty guarantees, he should display by means of concrete actions that he understands the magnitude of his accountability.
The INEC chair should know that belief, as soon as damaged, isn’t simply restored. Nigerians should see in him a person dedicated to the sanctity of the poll, not a servant of political pursuits. His background as an educational and authorized scholar ought to function a guiding compass for impartiality and adherence to the rules of due course of.
As Amupitan is busy making guarantees, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) have criticised his fee over alleged ethnic bias in employees redeployments and a scarcity of transparency concerning delicate election supplies forward of the 2027 normal election. They accused the fee of dealing with employees redeployments in key departments alongside sectional and ethnic traces.
Atiku and the ADC additionally demanded that INEC affirm or deny studies {that a} main portion of delicate election supplies—together with presidential ballots—was awarded to an undisclosed international firm (believed to be based mostly in France) and a agency linked to Hitech owned by the Chagoury household.
Besides, in all Ampuitan’s assurances, he has not informed Nigerians how he’s going to tame determined politicians who are going to sabotage his much-touted free, honest and credible elections.
Sometimes many Nigerians are questioning what Amupitan feels or whether or not he listens to the fixed rhetoric of political actors just like the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike who in a viral video final week, revealed how he ensured that the governorship candidate of the PDP within the final Edo State election, Asue Ighodalo, didn’t win the ballot even when he knew that he was the very best candidate, and the way nothing will cease him from delivering the FCT and Rivers State to President Bola Tinubu by each means doable, and lots of different revelations.
Wike has equally given motive why Tinubu should win the 2027 election as a result of, in accordance him, if Atiku or Peter Obi wins, they may come after him.
As the election quick approaching, the questions many Nigerians are asking Amupitan amid his assurances are: Can his fee resist political stress from highly effective pursuits? Can logistical failures be lowered to the barest minimal? Can know-how work reliably in distant communities in addition to main cities? And, maybe most significantly, can the fee persuade Nigerians that the poll stays extra highly effective than cash, affect and political connections?
The solutions to those questions won’t be present in speeches or guarantees. It shall be discovered on the polling models in January and February 2027 when Nigerians solid their votes and wait to see whether or not the establishment entrusted with defending these votes will enable the votes to rely.
