INEC warns of prosecution for attacks on election staff in Nigeria
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Daily Post
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission chairman, Joash Amupitan, warns that those who attack electoral officials and members of the National Youth Service Corps will be prosecuted. In Port Harcourt, he also announced preparations for 57,000 new biometric devices for the 2027 election, according to Daily Post Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Joash Amupitan, has warned that anyone who attacks electoral officials or members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) deployed for the 2027 elections will face prosecution. He issued the warning on Saturday, 31 October, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at a commission readiness meeting, according to INEC.
Joash Amupitan also threatened disciplinary sanctions against electoral officials guilty of partisanship, negligence, absenteeism or financial misconduct. The South-South zone has 15,823,550 registered voters, including 3,736,434 in Rivers State, and the commission wants to prevent voters being disenfranchised because of administrative or logistical failures.
For the 2027 elections, INEC is preparing its biometric voter accreditation system (BVAS), with 57,000 newly acquired devices, and auditing its electronic results transmission systems. It is also reviewing photographs deemed suspicious in the preliminary register and plans to publish the final register on 15 December 2026, after the period for claims and objections.
INEC has also reached an agreement with the Maritime Transport Union to move electoral staff and materials to riverine areas, coastal settlements and communities along waterways. The preparations follow the commission’s announcement on 31 October that it was strengthening electoral security, and its pledge to hold credible elections, published on 30 October.
