2027: INEC Breaks Silence On Preferred Candidate, Party

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, has assured Nigerians that the electoral body has no preferred candidate or political party ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to IReporter Online, Amupitan made the declaration on Tuesday while signing the First National Peace Accord on Issue-Based Campaigns organised by the National Peace Committee in partnership with The Kukah Centre.

The event was held ahead of the official commencement of campaigns for the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Amupitan stated that INEC would remain neutral throughout the electoral process and would not support any candidate or political platform.

He assured Nigerians that the commission was committed to conducting elections that are lawful, transparent, credible and inclusive, stressing that INEC had no interest in determining which candidate or party emerges victorious.

The INEC chairman further pledged that the commission would resist any attempt to compromise its officials or electoral processes before, during and after the elections.

He urged political parties and their candidates to make the 2027 campaign season focused on issues affecting Nigerians rather than personal attacks, character assassination and inflammatory rhetoric.

According to him, issues such as economic development, national security, infrastructure, healthcare, education and social inclusion should dominate political debates and campaign activities.

Amupitan described the Peace Accord as timely, noting that it would help establish acceptable standards for political campaigns before their official commencement on Wednesday, August 19, 2026.

On INEC’s preparations for the elections, the commission’s chairman disclosed that the electoral body was strengthening its logistics, technology and operational capacity ahead of the exercise.

He said INEC was preparing to deploy approximately 1.4 million ad hoc personnel to more than 176,000 polling units across the country.

Amupitan added that the commission had spent the past eight months improving its technology, logistics systems and personnel training while studying lessons from recent elections conducted in Anambra, the Federal Capital Territory, Ekiti and Osun states.

He emphasised that conducting credible elections was a collective responsibility and could not be achieved by INEC alone.

The INEC chairman therefore called on political parties, candidates and other stakeholders to respect electoral rules and ensure that their campaigns are conducted peacefully.

He stressed that political competition should not come at the expense of national unity, urging all participants to prioritise Nigeria’s interests throughout the electoral process.