BY AHMED AKANBI
The South East Revival Group (SERG) has raised the alarm over the January 16, 2027 date fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, warning that the timing could create a “double journey” burden that may disenfranchise millions of voters, especially from the South East region.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon Agu Chineme, and issued weekend, SERG said the date comes just weeks after Christmas and New Year — a period when millions of South Easterners traditionally travel home before returning to work.
“We are not alleging that the date was deliberately chosen to disadvantage the South East. Our concern is to ensure electoral arrangements promote, not obstruct, the constitutional right to vote,” the group stated.
According to SERG, a voter who travels home for Christmas may have to return to his place of work in early January, only to embark on another long trip back to his registered polling unit before January 16.
The group described this as a potentially difficult and expensive “double journey” that imposes financial, logistical and security burdens on ordinary citizens.
“An election date should not merely be legally valid; it should also be practically accessible to the citizens whose participation gives democratic elections their legitimacy.
“Where the timing creates foreseeable barriers to voter mobility, it is the responsibility of all stakeholders to identify those barriers early and minimise their effect,” SERG stated.
The group therefore called on INEC to urgently conduct a Voter Mobility and Electoral Accessibility Impact Assessment ahead of the 2027 elections, saying this should examine voter movement during and after the festive season, transportation costs, interstate security, accommodation, employment obligations, school calendars, and the practical ability of voters to reach their polling units.
SERG stressed that the demand is not South-East specific, but a national call to maximise participation and prevent avoidable disenfranchisement.
“Every Nigerian voter deserves a realistic opportunity to reach his or her polling unit, vote safely and return home. Electoral accessibility must be treated as a national democratic priority,” it added.
The group also issued a direct appeal to South-East indigenes living outside their states of registration: “Go home for Christmas, but do not go home at the expense of your vote.”
“If returning home and then returning to work will make it financially difficult to come back again for January 16, plan ahead. Where possible, consider remaining where you are registered until you vote,” SERG advised.
The group insisted it is not asking citizens to abandon Christmas celebrations, but a strategic call for early planning so that “Christmas homecoming must not become an electoral absence.”
“A voter should not discover after travelling hundreds of kilometres home that returning to the polling unit has become too expensive,” it warned.
SERG further urged INEC to engage political parties, civil society organisations, transport unions, traditional institutions, employers and security agencies to develop a comprehensive voter-access strategy.
It also called for strengthened security along major interstate routes, noting that voter safety must extend beyond polling units to the journeys taken to reach them.