INEC: Non Transparent Primaries May Undermine Public Trust, Destabilise Process
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
With primaries elections of political parties scheduled between April 23 and May 30, 2026, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that non-transparent nomination processes could undermine public trust and destabilise the electoral process.
The commission added that if candidates emerged through opaque processes, the country might face voter apathy and an explosion of pre-election litigation.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this in Uyo during a three-day Technical Review Workshop on Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties ahead of the 2027 elections.
The workshop was organised with the support of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD).
Amupitan, in a statement by INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs. Victoria Eta-Messi, said the workshop was organised following the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026 and the release of the Commission’s revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election.
Under the revised timetable, Presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on Saturday, January 16, 2027, while Governorship and State Assembly elections are scheduled for Saturday, February 6, 2027.
He described the exercise as a critical institutional realignment aimed at harmonising the Commission’s regulatory framework with the new legal order.
“We meet at a watershed moment in our democratic journey,” the Chairman said, noting that the Electoral Act 2026, assented to in February, has recalibrated statutory timelines and compressed the operational window for electoral activities.
Amupitan emphasised that the ongoing review was not a routine administrative exercise but a deliberate effort to sanitise party operations and embed higher standards of accountability.
He said, “We are not just editing a document. We are aligning our Regulations and Guidelines with the 2026 Act to ensure that our electoral architecture is not only robust in theory but strong in practice.”
The chairman, however, identified the conduct of party primaries as a focal point of the reforms.
“With primaries scheduled between 23rd April and 30th May 2026, he warned that non-transparent nomination processes could undermine public trust and destabilise the electoral process.
“The quality of internal party democracy has a direct bearing on the election conducted by INEC. If candidates emerge through opaque processes, we face voter apathy and an explosion of pre-election litigation,”
Amupitan added.
