The Independent National Electoral Commission has warned political parties and candidates against violence, hate speech and vote-buying ahead of the 2027 general election, saying offenders will face sanctions and prosecution.
INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan issued the warning at a strategic workshop for editors organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in collaboration with the commission in Abuja. “As electioneering intensifies across the country, I must sound a clear note of warning to all political parties, candidates, and campaign managers: INEC will not stand by and allow political competition to devolve into violence, intimidation, or inflammatory rhetoric. NigerianBusiness Directory
“Democracy thrives on the clash of ideas, not the clash of weapons or the proliferation of hate speech,” he stated. Amupitan said the commission had established a framework through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to monitor political violence and dangerous campaign rhetoric.
“Through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES, we have activated an early-warning tracking framework to log incidents of political violence, thuggery and dangerous campaign rhetoric. Any political party or candidate implicated in inciting violence, disrupting rivals’ rallies or deploying armed thugs will face direct statutory sanctions and swift prosecution. No political office in this country is worth the blood of a single Nigerian.”
Departing from his prepared remarks, Amupitan said he had been shown material allegedly depicting an NDC candidate in Kano State carrying a gun during a campaign. He also reported a threat against commission personnel. “Just before I was invited to come and speak, somebody shared with me… a person, an NDC candidate in Kano State who was campaigning yesterday with a gun in his hands, brandishing the gun, and so on and so forth. Another person was threatening that with AK-47s, they will kill all of us in the commission. So, that is what elections have turned into in Nigeria of today,” he said. He appealed for restraint, urging Nigerians to remember their responsibilities as citizens.
“Let us not forget our role as citizens of Nigeria to be patriotic because election is a periodic process for the election of leaders every four years.” Amupitan also announced measures against vote-buying, saying the practice undermined the integrity of elections. “The commission is taking an uncompromising stance against vote-buying in all its forms ahead of the 2027 general election,” he said. NigerianBusiness Directory
He said INEC was working with the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. On voter registration, Amupitan said more than 10.6 million new registrants had been recorded across three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The first phase, held from August 25 to December 10, 2025, recorded 2,611,266 registrants. The second, from January 5 to April 17, 2026, recorded 4,121,835, while the third, from May 11 to July 26, 2026, recorded 3,867,997. The chairman said INEC had acquired 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices “for optimal performance.”
He said the enhanced eEC8A system would digitise polling-unit result sheets, authenticate them cryptographically and upload them directly to the INEC Result Viewing Portal. According to him, the system was designed to prevent manipulation of polling-unit figures before their entry into BVAS and transfer to IReV.
Addressing staff security, Amupitan said personnel from Zamfara, Sokoto and other states had requested bulletproof vests and vehicles during the commission’s North-West engagement in Kaduna. He said INEC might obtain bulletproof vehicles for personnel working in security flashpoints. Physical readiness audits and staff engagements had been completed in the South-West and North-West, with the remaining four geopolitical zones to follow. The audits covered office facilities, secure storage, security command procedures and logistics networks.
Amupitan also said the commission had introduced the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure, alongside a 150 per cent increase in state office operational overheads effective July 1, 2026. “We are working on the cash backing to ensure immediate implementation,” he added.