2027: INEC has no preferred candidate, party — Amupitan

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that it has no preferred candidate or political party for the 2027 general elections, insisting that it will uphold the law and respect the will of Nigerian voters.

INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, stated this on Friday in Abuja when he received a pre-election fact-finding mission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by former Sierra Leone Vice-President, Victor Bockarie Foh.

“INEC under my watch has no candidate and no political party,” Amupitan said.

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

He said the commission was assessing its readiness across the country’s six geopolitical zones ahead of the elections, which will cover 8,809 registration areas and 774 local government areas.

Amupitan disclosed that Nigeria’s voter register had surpassed 103 million, while INEC had completed nine of the 14 major statutory milestones in its revised election timetable.

He added that the commission had concluded three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and completed the nationwide display of the preliminary voter register.

On election technology, the INEC chairman said the commission would deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint and facial recognition, alongside electronic result management systems.

He also announced the introduction of the eEC8A electronic verification platform to complement result management and verification through the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

Amupitan said INEC was working with security agencies under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to strengthen security arrangements for the polls.

Speaking for the ECOWAS mission, Foh said the visit was aimed at assessing Nigeria’s electoral preparedness and identifying areas where the regional body could provide support.

He said the exercise was being conducted under the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and the regional body’s Conflict Prevention Framework.

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