LAGOS — Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has warned electoral officers that there will be consequences for misconduct, urging them to remain neutral and discharge their duties with integrity during the 2027 general elections.
Amupitan gave the warning on Monday in Lagos at the South-West Zonal Interactive Meeting with staff on the Commission’s readiness for the 2027 elections.
He said partisan leaning, administrative negligence and compromised ethics would not be tolerated, stressing that protecting the integrity of the electoral process was non-negotiable.
“Let me be unequivocally clear about the fact that partisan leaning, administrative negligence, or compromised ethics will not be tolerated.
“We will enforce our code of conduct, and every officer must understand that the protection of INEC’s institutional integrity is non-negotiable,” he said.
The INEC chairman urged electoral officers to administer elections without preference for any candidate or political party.
He said the Electoral Act reinforced the requirement for neutrality by mandating staff involved in elections to swear an oath of loyalty and neutrality.
“When you take that oath, you are committing yourself to administer an election in which you have no preferred candidate and no preferred political party.
“The question should never be: ‘Who will benefit from this decision?’ The question should always be: ‘What does the law require me to do?’ That is the discipline that protects both the electoral process and the electoral officer,” he said.
Amupitan also cautioned officers against improvising solutions where the law or the Commission’s guidelines had prescribed procedures.
“One of the recurring problems in public administration is the temptation to solve difficult situations through informal practices.
“In election administration, that temptation can be dangerous. Where the law provides a procedure, follow the procedure. Where the Commission has issued a lawful guideline or directive, follow it. Where an operational difficulty arises, escalate it through the appropriate institutional channel,” he said.
He said the credibility of the 2027 elections would depend largely on how faithfully electoral officials implemented the law.
“A beautifully drafted Electoral Act cannot by itself guarantee a credible election. A sophisticated electoral technology cannot by itself guarantee integrity.
“An independent electoral commission cannot by itself guarantee public confidence. The credibility of an election depends significantly on how faithfully the law is implemented by the officials entrusted with its administration,” Amupitan said.
He urged staff to know the law, understand their responsibilities, remain neutral, document their actions and protect the integrity of the electoral process.
“My simple message to you today is that you must know the law; understand your responsibility; remain neutral; document your actions; protect the integrity of the process.
“Remember that every administrative decision you make may eventually have to withstand public scrutiny and judicial review,” he said.
INEC registers 10.7m voters
Amupitan said the Commission had commenced preparations for the 2027 elections, with emphasis on technology, voter registration, logistics, staff training and institutional integrity.
He said INEC had registered 10,772,421 voters during the three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, subject to completion of the Automated Biometric Identification System, ABIS, verification.
He added that the Commission introduced printable Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, in line with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act, during the recent Osun governorship election.
“Our goal is simple: no Nigerian who is eligible to vote should be disenfranchised by logistics. Every eligible citizen who registers must get their Card without friction,” he said.
The INEC chairman said the Commission would review its voter registration processes and address operational bottlenecks affecting PVC distribution at the local government level.
He also said INEC was refining its result management systems to make the movement of results from polling units to the national collation centre visible and verifiable.
“We are refining our Result Management Systems to ensure that from the polling unit to the national collation centre, the journey of the vote is visible, verifiable, and validated.
“The recently introduced eEC8A is to ensure this verification,” he said.
On logistics, Amupitan described the issue as one of the perennial challenges of election administration, saying the Commission was working to improve its delivery chain ahead of 2027.
He said INEC would address challenges relating to movement, early deployment of sensitive materials, security coordination, vendor management and training of ad-hoc personnel.
“We are applying a ‘Zero-Failure’ protocol. We are also working on ICT basic lesson tools to supplement our face-to-face training of Ad-Hoc Staff,” he said.
Amupitan urged Resident Electoral Commissioners and Electoral Officers in the South-West to provide frank assessments of their operational challenges ahead of the elections.
He said lessons from recent off-cycle elections, particularly the Osun governorship election, showed what the Commission could achieve when operational discipline, technical competence and administrative integrity were combined.
He, however, warned against complacency ahead of the nationwide 2027 elections.
“If Osun showed Nigerians what we can do, 2027 must prove to the world that excellence is our permanent culture, not an occasional coincidence.
“The success of the 2027 election will not be judged by the quantity of votes cast, but by the quality of the process.
“I demand from you nothing less than absolute neutrality and professional excellence,” he said.
In his welcome address, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Lagos State, Prof. Ayobami Salami, urged South-West states to critically assess their readiness and address operational gaps ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Salami said election credibility was not determined on Election Day alone but built through early preparation, competent personnel, effective coordination and prompt resolution of challenges.
He said the meeting provided an opportunity for the Commission’s leadership to hear directly from officers at the operational level about the realities and challenges in their respective states.
Salami said the South-West presented a diverse electoral environment, requiring each state to assess its demographic, geographical, logistical, technological, security and stakeholder-related challenges.
“Our readiness assessment must therefore go beyond checklists. It must examine whether our systems will work effectively when subjected to stressors and realities of Election Day,” he said.
He urged the Commission to apply lessons from previous elections to improve its strategies, adding that situation reports from the states should identify gaps, risks and practical interventions required before 2027.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the meeting was attended by electoral officers, heads of various departments and other senior administrative staff of the Commission across the South-West.
NAN
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