INEC Boss Promises ‘Best’ Election In 2027; Opposition Leaders Remain Skeptical

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, says Nigerians should not be worried over next year’s election, saying it will the best elections to be conducted in the country.

The INEC chairman spoke on Sunday in Abuja, the nation’s capital during the Citizens Townhall meeting on the 2026 Electoral Act.

Prof Amupitan’s remark comes on the backdrop of doubts among some opposition leaders in the country, of his capacity to conduct a credible election for the country next year. Some INEC critics cited the recently conducted Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, which they claimed fell below expectations.

INEC’s declaration of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC,  as the winner of the majority of Chairmanship and councilors positions have been rejected by the opposition parties.

For instance, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, a former Executive Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, had in his reaction to the  recent FCT Council elections said the INEC boss cannot be trusted to conduct a free, fair and credible election for the country in 2027.

He said the Commission failed to redeem its image among Nigerians during the FCT election, where the APC won five of six Chairmanship positions.

“Amupitan’s INEC failed woefully. On this evidence, nobody can trust Joash Amupitan to organise credible elections in 2027.

“There’s nothing else to it; it is not about the law. It is about the failure of will, the failure of electoral administration,” he stated.

Odinkalu had charged the INEC boss to sit up or resign his position, saying, for instance, that the logistic management during the Abuja council polls was very abysmal.

The rights activist also faulted INEC for reassigning voters without properly informing them of a change in their polling units on the day of election. .

Odinkalu challenged the electoral body to admit to the challenges and apologise to Nigerians for some shortcomings.

He called on Amupitan to take responsibility for what he described as the FCT council election failure.  Amupitan, the rights activist said, should simply admist to Nigerians that “I take personal responsibility, this is a chastening experience. I am learning, some of these things I saw cannot happen on my watch”.

“But to simply pretend as if these things did not happen and say this is the standard to which elections are organised will be irresponsible,” he stated.

Odinkalu further noted that Nigerians are not asking for perfections but evidence of commitment to improvements by the electoral body.

“A chairperson of INEC who is committed to credible elections would admit that there are failures that should never have happened on the watch of a credible electoral administrator and will say, ‘We will do something about it, enlist citizens who have no partisan commitments to see how we address these issues,’” the rights activist said.

But speaking yesterday, Prof Amupitan vowed to conduct the most credible election in the nation’s history, stressing however that the election may not be 100 percent perfect, adding that the commission will improve with time.

“By the grace of God, the 2027 election will be the best election Nigerians have experienced,” Amupitan said.