Nigeria’s INEC warns of electoral kidnapping plot
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Daily Post
Nigeria’s INEC says a plot aimed to kidnap electoral officials, including members of the National Youth Service Corps, ahead of the 2027 general election. Suspects presented as the alleged masterminds have been arrested and taken to court, according to INEC chairman Joash Amupitan.
Intelligence operations led to the arrest of suspects presented as the alleged masterminds behind a plot to kidnap electoral personnel, according to the chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan. The suspects were brought before the courts by the Department of State Services (DSS), he said at Chatham House in London.
Joash Amupitan said INEC was strengthening its cooperation with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to identify threats ahead of the 2027 poll. He also warned that electoral officials who breached the rules would be sanctioned, while those who threatened or attacked electoral personnel would face the law.
The INEC chairman specifically cited members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who are to be recruited as temporary electoral personnel and deployed across the country. He said their neutrality, professionalism and commitment, particularly at local level, would be crucial to the credibility of the 2027 poll.
The warning comes after the national presidential vote test scheduled by INEC for 28 November, announced on 12 November. It also comes on 13 November, when Nigerians called for Joash Amupitan, the INEC chairman, to step down.
