By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
Nigeria’s electoral future took centre stage on Thursday as the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) jointly raised the alarm over defective electoral laws, worsening internal party crises and declining voter confidence, warning that the road to 2027 leaves no room for excuses or failure.
At a high-powered consultative meeting between INEC and Political Party leaders in Abuja, both institutions delivered blunt, data-driven verdicts on the state of Nigeria’s democracy, calling for urgent legal reforms, party discipline and institutional accountability.
Setting the tone, the INEC Chairman declared that the credibility of any election rises or falls on the integrity of the voters’ register, insisting that no process can command public trust without a clean, transparent and verifiable roll of voters.
He recalled that Nigeria’s current national voters’ register, first compiled ahead of the 2011 General Election, has been continuously updated and deployed for the 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023 general elections, as well as several off-cycle polls.
As of the 2023 elections, he said, the register stood at 93,469,008 voters, reflecting years of sustained registration and validation.
However, the Chairman admitted that the register is still burdened by multiple registrations, inclusion of deceased persons, incomplete records and data inaccuracies, describing these challenges as corrosive to public trust.
“These anomalies weaken confidence in the system,” he said, stressing that credibility is as much social as it is legal.
To address the flaws, INEC has commenced another internal cleanup and validation exercise, building on the verification carried out ahead of the 2023 polls.
The goal, the Chairman said, is to retain only eligible, living voters, while eliminating duplications through administrative controls and technology.
He issued a firm warning on double registration, describing it as a criminal violation of the law.
“Our systems are fully equipped to detect it,” he said, adding that offenders will be removed from the register and sanctioned without hesitation.
Beyond the register, INEC raised concern over Nigeria’s plunging voter turnout, calling it one of the gravest threats to democratic legitimacy.
Turnout figures, he noted, dropped from 53.7 per cent in 2011 to 43.7 per cent in 2015, 34.7 per cent in 2019, and a historic low of 26.72 per cent in 2023.
While acknowledging that technologies such as BVAS have curbed manipulation, the Chairman conceded that technology alone cannot save democracy.
“When citizens believe their votes do not count, trust collapses,” he warned, calling for a collective effort to rebuild confidence.
On the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, the INEC Chairman disclosed that the first phase, conducted between August 18 and December 10, 2025, recorded 2,790,782 successful registrations.
The second phase, he said, began in January 2026 and will run until April 17, 2026, with the entire CVR exercise scheduled to conclude in December 2026.
He described the turnout as evidence that Nigerians still believe in democracy, if the system works.
Party Registration and Court Orders
Turning to party regulation, INEC revealed it received over 100 applications from associations seeking registration as political parties.
After constitutional and legal screening, only 14 qualified for further verification, and just two eventually met all requirements.
However, the Chairman disclosed that court judgments, including rulings of the Federal High Court, compelled INEC to register additional parties, underscoring the Commission’s obligation to obey the rule of law.
Backing INEC’s concerns, IPAC National Chairman, Dr. Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, warned that Nigeria is fast running out of time to fix its electoral system ahead of 2027.
He described the meeting as historic, the first since Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, assumed office as INEC Chairman and said expectations are now higher than ever.
“The responsibility before us is enormous,” Dantalle said, charging INEC to remain independent, neutral, firm and decisive in all its actions.
Dantalle zeroed in on internal party leadership battles, describing them as one of the most destabilising forces in Nigeria’s democracy.
He urged INEC to rely strictly on party constitutions when recognising leadership factions, warning that recognition confers legitimacy and determines who the Commission officially engages.
Failure to follow this principle, he said, fuels accusations of bias, deepens litigations and has, in some cases, prevented parties from fielding candidates.
“This is dangerous for democracy and national development,” he warned.
The IPAC Chairman also admonished party leaders to stop rushing to court over internal disputes, urging them instead to use IPAC’s alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
He noted that the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that it lacks jurisdiction over internal party leadership matters, describing endless litigation as a distraction that weakens political institutions.
One of the strongest messages of the meeting was directed at the National Assembly.
Dantalle called for the urgent harmonization and amendment of the electoral legal framework, warning that delays could jeopardise preparations for the next general election.
He restated IPAC’s demand that real-time transmission of results to the IReV portal be made mandatory, insisting that it is critical to restoring public trust.
“The sanctity of the ballot is the foundation of constitutional governance,” he said.
IPAC also renewed its call for the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), citing persistent credibility concerns, and advocated that INEC should conduct all elections nationwide.
Dantalle further pushed for same-day elections, arguing that it would reduce costs, curb bandwagon effects and tackle voter fatigue.
He said the February 2026 FCT Area Council election, alongside upcoming governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun, will serve as key indicators of Nigeria’s readiness for 2027.
“The eyes of the nation and the world are watching,” he warned.
Both INEC and IPAC ended the meeting on a united note, stressing that democracy cannot be sustained by institutions alone.
Political parties, lawmakers and citizens, they said, must all play their roles in defending electoral integrity.
As Nigeria inches closer to 2027, the message from Abuja was unmistakable: fix the laws, fix the parties, fix the system or risk another crisis of confidence at the polls.
