INEC Chairman Prof Joash Amupitan
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that it will on June 26 officially issue an official Access Code to the political parties to enable them upload the details of the candidates who emerged victorious at the recently-concluded party primaries.
Chairman of the commission, Prof Joash Amupitan, disclosed this in his remarks during a meeting with the national leaderships of the political parties Tuesday in Abuja.
He also expressed concern over how the alarming increasing rate of intra party litigations within the leaderships of the political parties becoming a big distraction to the commission’s efforts to concentrate on the preparations for next year’s general elections.
Amupitan further cautioned the political parties that the success of the 2027 general elections will depend on the stakeholders upholding the electoral guidelines in the build-up to the elections.
The Chairman stated that the Commission has appealed recent court rulings affecting aspects of its timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 General Election and raised concern over the growing number of court cases arising from leadership disputes within political parties.
Amupitan said while the Commission remains respectful of judicial decisions, the differing judgments have raised important legal questions regarding INEC’s constitutional and statutory powers to coordinate electoral activities and maintain an orderly election calendar.
He also lamented the increasing number of internal party disputes currently before the courts, describing them as unnecessary distractions that should be resolved quickly in the interest of Nigeria’s democracy.
“I must not fail to express the concern of the Commission over several cases that are still pending in several courts, most of which still bother on leadership of the parties. We consider this an unnecessary distraction and wish all the issues are resolved without further delay,” he said.
Speaking on the legal challenge to the electoral timetable, Amupitan explained that INEC had reviewed two recent Federal High Court judgments with differing positions on the Commission’s authority to prescribe timelines for electoral activities.
According to him, one ruling questioned aspects of the Commission’s timetable for the 2027 General Election, while another affirmed INEC’s authority to issue electoral schedules but nullified certain timelines relating to nomination and substitution of candidates.
“In view of the differing conclusions reached in the judgments and in order to ensure certainty and stability in preparations for the 2027 General Election, the Commission has filed appeals against the decisions and has taken the necessary legal steps to obtain authoritative pronouncements from the Appellate Courts,” he said.
The INEC chairman maintained that electoral activities are interconnected operational processes requiring coordinated timelines to guarantee transparency, administrative efficiency and equal treatment of all political parties.
He explained that activities requiring structured scheduling include verification of membership registers, monitoring of party primaries, candidate nominations, printing and deployment of election materials, BVAS configuration, voter education and compliance with statutory requirements.
On preparations for the Ekiti State governorship election scheduled for June 20, 2026, Amupitan expressed confidence in the Commission’s readiness.
He disclosed that the voter register for the election stands at 1,059,360 registered voters, including 66,664 newly registered voters added through the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, while 2,103 cases of double registration had been invalidated.
According to him, logistics, election technology deployment, training of officials and stakeholder engagements are progressing as planned to ensure the simultaneous opening of all 2,445 polling units across the state’s 16 local government areas at 8:30 a.m. on election day.
He also commended political parties in Ekiti for signing a Peace Accord and urged them to ensure the commitment translates into peaceful and issue-based campaigns.
