Youth-Led Reforms Face First Test as Ekiti Guber Pilots E-Result Transmission, Downloadable PVCs  

By Joseph Sunday

ADO-EKITI — Nigeria’s new electoral reforms will face their first major test in the Ekiti State governorship election on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with electronic result transmission and downloadable Permanent Voter Cards set for statewide deployment.

The Executive Director of the New Generation Girls and Women Development Initiative (NIGAWD) and Southwest Coordinator of the Youth-Led Electoral Reform Project, Mrs Abimbola Aladejare, said stakeholders convened a multi-party dialogue ahead of the poll because Ekiti will pilot key provisions of the 2026 Electoral Act, signed into law in February.

According to Aladejare, youth dissatisfaction with the 2023 general election fueled organized advocacy that shaped the new law. 

She itemized key reforms in the 2026 Act to include mandatory electronic transmission of polling unit results directly to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV); Continuous voter registration to reduce disenfranchisement; Downloadable PVCs that INEC says will be valid for accreditation.

“We want to monitor and see if these provisions are going to be operationalized,” Aladejare said. “We are calling on INEC to ensure the new provisions are implemented to the letter come June 20.”

Security Agencies, CSOs Call for Peaceful Poll:

With the election days away, security agencies and civil society groups are intensifying calls for a peaceful and credible process under the new law.

SP Abutu Sunday, Police Public Relations Officer for the Ekiti State Command, said the Police and other security agencies will provide “adequate and necessary security for everyone before, during, and after the elections.”

While declining to disclose deployment figures, Abutu confirmed that personnel from within and outside the Command will be mobilized to protect voters, INEC officials, journalists, observers, and election materials.  

“There is no cause for alarm. We are fully prepared,” he said. “We will ensure the state remains peaceful and that we deliver a credible, free, fair, inclusive, and democratic process.”

Bem Aga, Programme Director at the National Democratic Institute, echoed NIGAWD’s demand for full implementation of the Act. He urged INEC to conduct “credible and inclusive elections that young people can be happy with” in line with the 2026 law and the Commission’s regulations. 

Aga also called on youth across Ekiti’s 16 local governments to “go out en masse and vote for the candidates of their choice” to influence policies affecting their lives.

The multi-stakeholder forum drew representatives from INEC, the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Bar Association, Nigeria Union of Journalists, political parties, and youth groups including the National Youth Council and National Youth Congress.