Abuja: Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and election experts have identified weak political parties, non-credible polling agents, and poor technology management as threats to Nigeria’s 2027 elections. The stakeholders spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at a policy dialogue convened by the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought (ASSPT). The dialogue reviewed and strengthened a draft document titled, ‘Nigeria 2027 Election Integrity, Citizen Participation, and Democratic Resilience Strategy’.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, ASSPT Director, Dr. Sam Amadi, presented the document, emphasizing the need for a practical, non-partisan framework to hold electoral institutions and political parties accountable. Amadi stated that while Nigeria had made administrative and technological progress, significant gaps remained in political parties’ capacity to protect the electoral process. “Our interest is the integrity of the election. It is more important than who wins; it is about the process,” he said.
Amadi highlighted the necessity of competitive elections with opposition parties capable of demanding fair regulation from electoral institutions without compromising civil society’s independence. He called for coordinated action among citizens, CSOs, political parties, media, security agencies, and election management bodies to sustain electoral integrity.
The strategy was described as a unified framework designed to shift civil society engagement from election-day monitoring to pre-emptive, full-cycle interventions. Amadi noted that past civil society efforts often involved monitoring elections and issuing statements after electoral malpractices had already occurred. The framework aims to protect the integrity of the vote and improve the democratic environment, ensuring votes are freely cast, accurately counted, transparently transmitted, lawfully collated, and faithfully declared.
Amadi announced that the Civil Society Situation Room would serve as the central platform for independent citizen engagement, with plans underway to establish or strengthen State Situation Rooms across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. He emphasized the importance of a public tracker to monitor the Independent National Electoral Commission’s commitments, focusing on election funding, voter registration, Permanent Voter Cards, logistics, and technology protocols.
Concerning the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and INEC Result Viewing Portal, Amadi called for clear protocols on result transmission and backend reviews, alongside clarification of the legal precedence between hard-copy EC8A result forms and electronic records. Implementation efforts will include a Citizen Townhall on the 2023 elections to gather grassroots evidence of operational failures, informing advocacy for electoral reforms.
The strategy, structured into four phases-institutional preparation, campaign monitoring, election day and collation operations, and post-election learning and reform-aims to strengthen internal party democracy, transparent primaries, campaign finance compliance, and polling-agent training. Prof. Vivian Madu from the National Human Rights Commission stressed the importance of grassroots accountability and credible party-agent recruitment, identifying the failure to field credible agents as a major weakness in previous elections.
Mr. Odeh Friday, Country Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, urged citizens to properly document electoral irregularities, while Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku of the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission called for aggressive voter education to encourage conscience-driven voting. The CEO of KORA 360, Onyinyechi Etusi, emphasized post-election accountability by the electoral commission, urging INEC to consistently report its performance and challenges.
Kosi Umeh, Programme Officer at the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, announced the deployment of a citizen-led electoral accountability tracker to empower citizens in reporting incidents and monitoring electoral activities in real time.