BY AHMED AKANBI
Six civil society organisations, CSOs, have challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide verifiable evidence of its preparedness for the 2027 general elections.
The groups demanded independent testing of INEC’s election technologies and proof that the result-upload failures of 2023 have been fixed.
The demand was contained in an open memorandum ahead of INEC’s planned World Press Conference on preparations for the polls.
The memorandum was endorsed by Centre for Media and Society, International Press Centre, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, TAF Africa, The Kukah Centre, and Yiaga Africa.
With Presidential and National Assembly elections fixed for January 16, 2027, the groups said INEC must move beyond general assurances.
”INEC must move beyond general assurances and provide regular, verifiable evidence of operational readiness,” they said.
They urged the Commission to publish a dated readiness dashboard detailing funding, procurement milestones, delivery and storage of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, distribution plans and contingency measures for insecure areas.
The CSOs also demanded disclosure of recruitment needs, number of ad-hoc staff, training schedules, deployment plans and welfare arrangements, while calling for early filling of vacancies in key leadership and technical positions.
On technology, they demanded clarity on how the Electoral Act 2026 and INEC guidelines will govern voter accreditation, result management and publication, including use of electronic Form EC8A.
They called for public stress tests of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV), with results made available for independent scrutiny.
Specifically on the 2023 IReV glitch, the groups said INEC must publish verifiable evidence that the problem has been rectified and allow observers to independently assess improvements during its planned mock accreditation.
On voter access, they demanded guidelines on PVC collection, logistics and personnel deployment to prevent disenfranchisement, and clarification on downloadable voter cards.
The memorandum also tasked political parties to reject hate speech, vote-buying and use of incumbency to block opposition access to campaign venues and advertising spaces.
It urged security agencies to publish a coordinated election-security framework and remain impartial, while calling on the media to provide equitable coverage, verify claims and correct errors, and on the judiciary to resolve disputes timely.