2027 Elections: “Anyone Who Harms INEC Officials Will Face Full Weight of Law” – Chairman

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, has warned that anyone who threatens or harms electoral officials, including National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members deployed for election duties, will face the full weight of the law.

Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday during the South-South Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, as the commission intensifies preparations for the 2027 general elections.

He reaffirmed INEC’s commitment to working with security agencies under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to ensure the safety of voters, electoral personnel and election materials.

The INEC chairman also warned electoral officers against partisanship, negligence, absenteeism and financial impropriety, stressing that such conduct would attract disciplinary action.

He said the readiness assessment was designed to identify operational gaps and strengthen the commission’s capacity to conduct credible elections.

Amupitan disclosed that the commission was preparing its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), including 57,000 newly procured devices, while auditing its electronic result management systems to improve transparency in result transmission through the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

He said the South-South zone had 15,823,550 registered voters, including 3,736,434 in Rivers State, adding that no eligible voter should be disenfranchised because of administrative negligence or logistical failure.

On logistics, he disclosed that INEC had concluded a memorandum of understanding with the Maritime Transporters Union to facilitate the transportation of personnel and election materials across the region’s creeks and riverine communities.

He urged staff to demonstrate integrity and professionalism ahead of the elections.