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The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has declared that his allegiance is to the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral Act.
Amupitan dismissed concerns that his previous involvement in political disputes as a lawyer could affect his neutrality ahead of the 2027 elections.
“My loyalty is solely to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act,” he said.
Amupitan made the statement on Thursday during a dialogue at Chatham House in London, organised in collaboration with the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), on the theme, “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot.”
The INEC chairman also addressed allegations circulating on social media that linked his phone number to a controversial X account.
He denied operating the account and disclosed that an independent forensic review had been obtained, while the matter had been referred to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector-General of Police for investigation.
Amupitan, who assumed office in October 2025, used the engagement to outline measures being taken by INEC to improve the credibility of the 2027 general elections.
He noted that the commission was yet to fully recover from the loss of public confidence caused by technical problems associated with the 2023 general election.
“First, let me speak about what happened in 2023, which resulted in a significant trust deficit for INEC—damage so large that the Commission has not yet fully recovered from it,” he said.
According to him, INEC’s review of the 2023 elections identified major result management failures at collation centres.
He said the commission had since developed technical safeguards to prevent inaccurate polling unit results from appearing on its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“In 2023, there were instances of inaccurate results or results with over-voting being uploaded onto IReV. We have now devised a technical safeguard: if a result is not accurate at the polling unit, it will not go to IReV at all,” he said.
To test its preparations, Amupitan announced that INEC would conduct a nationwide mock accreditation and voting exercise on November 28, 2026, focusing on voter accreditation and electronic transmission of results.
He said the commission had also chosen to upgrade its existing electoral technology rather than introduce a completely new system, given the limited time before the 2027 polls.
