Jane Salihu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged traditional rulers to help prevent electoral violence, combat misinformation and mobilise citizens for the 2027 General Election as it concluded its nationwide operational readiness tour in Lokoja, Kogi State.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the Kogi State Council of Traditional Rulers on Thursday, November 5, 2026, ahead of the Commission’s North-Central Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment held on Friday.
Amupitan identified traditional institutions as essential partners in delivering peaceful and credible elections, urging them to mobilise eligible voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), discourage violence and political thuggery, and counter misinformation, including artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes. He said PVC collection was being decentralised across the 774 Local Government Areas, including Kogi’s 21 LGAs, with ward-level collection points to improve access.
He assured Nigerians that INEC remained politically neutral and had no candidate in the elections.
The delegation was received by the President and Chairman of the Council, His Royal Majesty, Dr. Matthew Alaji Opaluwa Oguche Akpa, the Attah Igala. Also present were the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, His Royal Majesty Alhaji Ahmed Tijani Muhammad, and the Obaro of Kabba and Chairman of the Okun Area Traditional Council, His Royal Majesty Oba Solomon Dele Owoniyi.
Responding for the Attah Igala, the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Vice President of the Council, pledged the traditional institution’s cooperation and described Amupitan’s appointment as a source of pride to Kogi. He urged the Chairman to uphold fairness, transparency, accountability and the rule of law.
At Friday’s zonal meeting, Amupitan announced that nine of the 14 major statutory milestones in the 2027 election timetable had been completed. The meeting brought together National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), Directors from the National Headquarters, Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Department and Electoral Officers.
He said the North-Central assessment followed similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East, North-East and South-South, aimed at identifying operational weaknesses, addressing local challenges and preventing administrative or logistical failures that could disenfranchise voters. He directed that no Commission staff member should proceed on annual leave until after the polls.
The 2027 elections will involve more than 103 million registered voters across 176,846 polling units. Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on February 6, 2027. Recent governorship elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun, Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections and 16 bye-elections, he said, had helped test INEC’s preparedness.
Amupitan warned that partisanship, negligence, financial impropriety and absenteeism would attract swift sanctions under Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2026, which provides for a formal Oath of Neutrality. Charging electoral officers to uphold professional standards, he said:
“You are the human bridge translating the Electoral Act 2026 into democratic reality. Know the law, understand your responsibility, maintain absolute neutrality, document every action, and protect the integrity of the ballot.”
On staff welfare, he said INEC was at an advanced stage of implementing the newly approved Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS). Enhanced salary, hazard and field allowances had been approved, alongside a 150 per cent increase in monthly overheads to state offices, effective July 1, 2026.
He said operational pick-up vehicles had been distributed to state and Local Government Area offices, 20 Sports Utility Vehicles had been procured for RECs, and Administrative Secretaries would receive new vehicles.
INEC was also configuring its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), including 57,000 newly procured units, while electronic result management systems were being audited to ensure transparent transmission of polling-unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
Printable PVCs and a digital PVC Location Portal had been activated, and the preliminary register of voters published for public scrutiny. The certified Register of Voters would be published on December 15, 2026. Addressing concerns about photographs in the preliminary register, Amupitan said the data remained subject to verification before publication of the final register.
On security, he unveiled the intelligence-led “ICCES Tentacle” framework under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), designed to extend coordination from INEC’s national headquarters to Local Government Areas and Registration Area Centres. He warned against attacks on electoral personnel, including National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our constitutional resolve is stronger. Anyone attempting to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will face the full weight of the law,” he said.
He also cautioned against fake news and digital disinformation, saying professional and credible field operations remained INEC’s strongest defence against attempts to manipulate public perceptions of election results.
“When our field execution is flawless, and our data pipeline is clear, no digital algorithm can displace the physical reality of a transparent vote,” he stated.
Describing Kogi as Nigeria’s ultimate electoral gateway because of its boundaries with 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Amupitan said the North-Central zone had 15,448,869 registered voters, including 1,932,654 in Kogi. The figures for other areas were: Benue, 2,777,727; Plateau, 2,787,273; Niger, 2,698,344; Nasarawa, 1,899,244; Kwara, 1,698,627; and the FCT, 1,655,000.
In his welcome address, Kogi REC, Dr. Shehu Wahab, described Lokoja as the historic confluence city where the Rivers Niger and Benue meet and urged staff to draw on its leadership history to deliver credible elections. He called Amupitan’s visit a morale booster and said the state office was preparing for the polls while managing additional responsibilities from the restoration of 12 previously suppressed State Constituencies.
Wahab added that INEC was working with security agencies to change Kogi’s reputation as a violence-prone election state. The Director of Planning and Monitoring, Mrs. Helen Ajayi, said the assessment was designed to motivate staff, evaluate preparedness and identify operational and logistical challenges. She highlighted Electoral Risk Management (ERM) for mapping potential flashpoints and urged traditional rulers to support grassroots mobilisation.
National Headquarters directors presented updates on voter registration, information and communication technology, staff conduct, and operational and logistics readiness. State representatives reported on security, training, voter education and stakeholder engagement, while staff representatives called for improved welfare to sustain motivation, professionalism and resistance to undue influence.
On Thursday, November 5, Amupitan also commissioned a newly constructed BVAS storage facility in Lokoja. He said dedicated facilities would address improper storage and inadequate cooling, preserve battery life, maintain optimal operating conditions and extend the devices’ lifespan.
He commended the construction quality, directed the ICT Department to address outstanding requirements such as equipment racks, and congratulated the Kogi REC and state office management on the initiative.
