The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan, has, prior to now 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 dedication to conduct free, truthful and credible polls.
At a press convention and nationwide stakeholders’ assembly in Abuja, he pledged whole dedication to neutrality, operational excellence and the sacred integrity of the poll field within the polls.
Reeling out levels of preparedness, Amupitan mentioned that manufacturing of 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) units in addition to further voting cubicles and poll bins had reached superior stage. He additionally assured that vital 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 consequence sheets was almost accomplished, and each obligatory association had been put in place to keep away from technological glitches.
Just a few days earlier, on the Guild of Online Publishers (GOCOP) assembly held in Lagos, Amupitan vowed that winners of the 2027 common elections can be decided by the votes of the citizens 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 celebration and that the electoral umpire was not defending any type of institutional curiosity. He asserted that the final word success of the 2027 common election wouldn’t be measured merely by the deployment of males and tools, but additionally 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 can be no predetermined leads to subsequent yr’s common 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 common election, and warranted Nigerians of free, truthful and credible elections in 2027.
He added that historical past and expertise had taught the fee a basic 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 depend within the upcoming elections.
This fixed reassurance has ignited better political curiosity within the 2027 elections.
It is well-known that since Nigeria’s return to democratic authorities in 1999, each common election cycle is characterised by allegations of interference within the electoral course of, particularly in favour of the ruling celebration. 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 worry 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 quite than the exception.
For many Nigerians, the 2023 common election was the apogee. Though technologically formidable 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 in control of Nigeria’s electoral fee, many count on him to handle the credibility deficit that adopted earlier elections and keep away from additional voter apathy and civic disengagement.
It is just not sufficient for him to make lofty guarantees, he should exhibit by means of concrete actions that he understands the magnitude of his duty.
The INEC chair should know that belief, as soon as damaged, is just not 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 an absence of transparency concerning delicate election supplies forward of the 2027 common 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 stories {that a} main portion of delicate election supplies—together with presidential ballots—was awarded to an undisclosed overseas firm (believed to be primarily based 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, truthful 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 most effective candidate, and the way nothing will cease him from delivering the FCT and Rivers State to President Bola Tinubu by each means potential, 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 are going to 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 decreased to the barest minimal? Can expertise 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 is not going to be present in speeches or guarantees. It can be discovered on the polling items in January and February 2027 when Nigerians forged their votes and wait to see whether or not the establishment entrusted with defending these votes will permit the votes to depend.
