PLAC's Nwankwo faults INEC on polling-unit results ahead of 2027

The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) has criticised the position attributed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on announcing results at polling units, warning that limiting it could weaken public trust in the 2027 general elections.

PLAC's executive director, Clement Nwankwo, spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the 8th annual lecture of the Just Friends Club, according to Daily Trust. He said the electoral law provides for results to be announced at polling units, and that citizens and party agents should be able to record them.

He said the stance attributed to INEC chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan, which reportedly discourages announcing outcomes at polling units, was troubling.

Why it matters to voters

Nwankwo argued that voters who stay to document results at their polling units help protect their own votes. He said party agents should collect evidence of results as announced there, rather than relying only on figures released later through collation.

He warned that election officials can be biased and that results can be swapped, and that evidence gathered at polling units is what makes that harder.

“But your ability to collect evidence at every opportunity is what stops election results sheets from being switched,” he said.

He also challenged political parties to post agents in every polling unit across the country, saying claims of popularity mean little without people on the ground to record results. Parties that go to court, he added, must be ready to show what actually happened at polling units, since election petitions often allege that INEC uploaded figures different from those recorded there.

Nwankwo recalled that in 2015, he and other civil society actors pushed back against a similar position attributed to a former national security adviser, arguing that voters should remain at polling units to protect their votes.

Questions over AI and result verification

Nwankwo also questioned INEC's reported plan to use electronic systems and artificial intelligence (AI) to check results before they are made public. He said the commission must point to the specific provisions of the law that allow such a process, and that new technology should not create procedures the law does not support.

He has been involved in election observation and democracy advocacy since 1998, the report said.

The sources did not say whether INEC has responded to his comments, or when the commission plans to explain its position on polling-unit announcements and result verification.