The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has warned political parties, candidates and their agents against violence, hate speech and vote-buying ahead of the 2027 general election, declaring that no political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, gave the warning at a strategic workshop for editors organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in collaboration with the commission in Abuja.

Amupitan said the commission would track and sanction politicians and political actors who attempt to undermine the electoral process through violence, intimidation or inflammatory rhetoric.

“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,” he said.

“Democracy thrives on the clash of ideas, not the clash of weapons or the proliferation of hate speech.”

The INEC chairman said an early-warning tracking framework had been activated through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to monitor incidents of political violence, thuggery and dangerous campaign rhetoric.

He warned that parties and candidates implicated in inciting violence, disrupting opponents’ rallies or deploying armed thugs would face statutory sanctions and prosecution.

“No political office in this country is worth the blood of a single Nigerian,” Amupitan declared.

The chairman also expressed concern over reports of politicians displaying firearms during campaigns and threats allegedly issued against INEC officials.

He said he had been shown evidence of an NDC candidate in Kano State allegedly campaigning while brandishing a firearm, as well as another individual threatening INEC officials with AK-47 rifles.

Amupitan urged politicians and citizens to exercise restraint, reminding them that elections were periodic processes for choosing leaders.

On vote-buying, he said INEC was adopting an uncompromising position against the practice, warning that treating votes as commodities undermined the integrity of the electoral process.

He disclosed that the commission was working with the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, to tackle illegal campaign spending and vote-buying.

On voter registration, Amupitan said more than 10.6 million new voters had been registered across the three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise conducted between August 2025 and July 2026.

He said Phase I recorded 2,611,266 registrants, Phase II registered 4,121,835, while 3,867,997 voters were registered during Phase III.

The INEC chairman also disclosed that the commission had acquired 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, devices to improve electoral operations.

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, IReV.

According to him, the system would help prevent manipulation of results at the polling unit level before figures are entered into BVAS and transmitted to IReV.

Amupitan also disclosed that INEC staff in some parts of the North-West had raised concerns about insecurity, with some requesting bulletproof vests and vehicles.

He said the commission was considering the deployment of bulletproof vehicles for staff operating in security flashpoints, while physical readiness audits had already been conducted in the South-West and North-West.

He said similar exercises would be carried out across the remaining geopolitical zones.

On staff welfare, the INEC chairman said the commission had introduced the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure, CEMBSS, alongside a 150 per cent increase in state office operational overheads effective from July 1, 2026.

He added that the commission was working to provide the necessary funding for immediate implementation.

Speaking at the event, President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba, said the partnership with INEC was important as the country approached another election season.

Anaba said elections were not merely about casting ballots but also about building public trust in the electoral process and institutions.

He said editors had a responsibility to ensure that election-related information was accurate, fair, balanced and presented in the public interest.

The NGE president, however, noted that the media could not perform its role effectively without credible, timely and accessible information from the electoral commission.

He called for stronger collaboration between INEC and the media, particularly in an environment increasingly affected by misinformation, disinformation, manipulated content, deepfakes and partisan narratives.