INEC unveils new security plan to curb violence before 2027 elections
- INEC says it will map flashpoints and protect staff, voters and materials ahead of the 2027 polls.
- The commission says a plot against ad-hoc staff and NYSC members was foiled and suspects are being prosecuted.
- In Kaduna, INEC flagged violence, technology failures and low PVC collection as risks to the vote.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set out a new security plan aimed at stopping violence before and during the 2027 general elections, saying it will go after anyone who threatens its staff, ad-hoc workers or National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, announced the framework in Gombe during a North-East zonal meeting with staff on readiness for the 2027 polls, according to the commission's daily bulletin.
The plan, which INEC calls the "ICCES Tentacle", extends coordination among security agencies from national and state headquarters down to local government areas and registration area centres. The agencies involved include the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Armed Forces, working under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
What the plan involves
Amupitan said the framework rests on three pillars: mapping and mitigating risks early, ensuring the safety of voters, staff and equipment such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices, and guaranteeing access to all 176,846 polling units nationwide.
He said joint operations led by the DSS recently uncovered a covert plot by criminal kingpins targeting the commission's ad-hoc staff and corps members. He said the threat was neutralised and the principal orchestrators were arrested and are being prosecuted.
"Let me send a clear message from Gombe," Amupitan said, warning that anyone who threatens, intimidates or harms INEC staff or NYSC members would be hunted down and brought to justice.
He said INEC would soon hold a National Election Security Conference in Abuja to finalise state-specific security protocols for high-risk areas.
The North-East has 13,965,475 registered voters, about 13.51 per cent of the national register of more than 103 million. Bauchi has the highest number in the zone with 3,012,547, followed by Borno (2,765,165), Adamawa (2,431,146), Taraba (2,254,380), Gombe (1,768,566) and Yobe (1,733,671).
The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for Saturday, 16 January 2027, while the governorship and state assembly elections will hold on Saturday, 6 February 2027.
Gombe Resident Electoral Commissioner Alhaji Umar Muktar Gajiram, speaking for North-East commissioners, said the zone was fully prepared and committed to ensuring no voter is disenfranchised.
Kaduna worries over PVCs and tech
In Kaduna, INEC listed electoral violence, conflict, voting disruptions, logistics problems, technology failures and low collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) as risks to the 2027 vote.
The commission said only 61,494 PVCs had been collected in the state as of 28 October 2026 — 12,741 old cards and 48,753 newly printed ones — while more than 100,000 remain uncollected.
Abba Yahaya, the commission's administrative secretary and acting Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kaduna, spoke at an Electoral Risk Management sensitisation workshop on Thursday. He urged electoral officers to speak frankly about risks in their local government areas, including places with a history of election violence.
"The elections are not far away," Yahaya said, adding that whatever can be seen coming must be planned for now, not on the eve of the elections.
He called for stronger collaboration among INEC, security agencies, the National Orientation Agency and the media, saying peaceful and credible elections are a shared responsibility.
Separately, a former chairman of Okene Local Government in Kogi State, Alhaji Isa Omolori, urged violence-free, issue-based campaigns ahead of 2027, particularly for the Kogi Central senatorial seat. The octogenarian said Nigerians deserve jobs, education, healthcare, roads, agriculture and security, and that the seat "must be won at the ballot box, not through thuggery, intimidation or the barrel of a gun".
What happens next
INEC plans to hold its national security conference in Abuja, where protocols for high-risk states will be finalised. Voters in Kaduna and elsewhere are also being urged to pick up their PVCs before the January 2027 presidential vote.
