The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has identified insecurity as a major threat to the January and February 2027 general elections, warning that violence in some parts of the country could disenfranchise eligible voters.

The INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan, stated this on Wednesday in Owerri, Imo State, on the sidelines of the sixth Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers.

Amupitan said the commission would work with the police, the Office of the National Security Adviser and other security agencies to develop strategies for conducting elections in volatile areas.

“It’s a major source of concern for us. That can be a source of disenfranchisement of Nigerians, and we don’t want any Nigerian to be disenfranchised,” he said.

The INEC chairman also identified logistical challenges and inadequate funding for security operations as potential areas of concern ahead of the elections.

He called for stronger coordination through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES, as well as professional neutrality and improved intelligence gathering by security agencies.

According to Amupitan, ICCES provides a platform for INEC, security agencies and other government institutions to coordinate election security at the federal, state and local government levels.

He said the commission would convene a meeting of the committee to address security challenges ahead of the elections.

Amupitan also disclosed that vote-buying was increasingly taking place outside polling units, making intelligence gathering crucial to detecting and preventing the practice.

He said some Nigerians remained willing to sell their votes, while politicians were adopting new methods to influence voters.

“We don’t have powers to arrest them. We don’t have powers to investigate,” Amupitan said, stressing that enforcement remained the responsibility of security agencies.

He said INEC was working towards a broader task force involving the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, ICCES and law-enforcement agencies to tackle electoral offences.

The commission, he added, would continue improving logistics and result management while working with security agencies to ensure electoral offences were investigated and prosecuted.

On disputes arising from political party primaries, Amupitan said matters within the jurisdiction of the courts would be resolved through litigation, including, where necessary, at the Supreme Court.

He said INEC would abide by the final decisions of the courts on such matters.

The INEC chairman also stressed the need for adequate funding to provide the personnel, security and logistics required for credible elections.

He said the commission’s responsibilities included conducting presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State House of Assembly elections, as well as voter registration and the registration and monitoring of political parties.

“Sometimes, it is not what you would like to do that you can do because of financial constraints,” Amupitan said.

He explained that funding was particularly important for moving personnel and electoral materials to local government areas, wards, registration areas and polling units.

He added that inadequate logistics could undermine an election even where security agencies had succeeded in maintaining peace.

Amupitan said INEC had drawn lessons from recent off-cycle elections, including the Anambra, FCT and Osun elections, to strengthen preparations for the 2027 polls.

“We started with the Anambra election. We learned some things from Anambra and ensured that they did not repeat in the election of FCT,” he said.

The commission also conducted off-cycle governorship elections in Ekiti and legislative by-elections in Gombe, Kano, Bauchi and Delta states.

Amupitan urged political parties to make their campaigns issue-based rather than personal.

“Campaigns should be based on issues, not on personality,” he said, while urging politicians to avoid treating elections as a “do or die” affair, campaigns of calumny and political denigration.

Also speaking at the event, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, urged the police to provide INEC with the necessary support to safeguard the electoral process.

She said effective policing support was essential to delivering free, fair, credible and transparent elections.