Politics
Amupitan: 57,000 New BVAS, Printable PVCs, AI Tools to Secure 2027 Elections
…As 100-Day Countdown Begins for 2027 Polls
By Joseph Sunday
As the 100-day countdown to the 2027 general elections begins, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, has said the Commission has moved from planning to full execution, with 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, devices in production, Printable Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, to end months-long waiting, and a new Artificial Intelligence Division to shield the polls from cyber intrusions and deepfakes.
Speaking at a World Press Conference and National Stakeholders’ Meeting held on Tuesday at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, BAT-ICC, Abuja, Prof. Amupitan described the 100-day milestone as “not just a countdown, but a call to action” to deliver an election that will serve as a global benchmark for transparency, integrity and peace.
The meeting was attended by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Olatunji Disu; Directors-General of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and the National Orientation Agency, NOA; Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Electoral Matters; leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC; the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE; development partners, security agencies and civil society organisations.
Prof. Amupitan, who assumed office on October 23, 2025, said his administration has successfully conducted major off-cycle elections, including the Anambra, Ekiti and Osun governorship polls and the FCT Area Council elections, which he said passed integrity benchmarks by local and international observers and served as test grounds for logistics and security upgrades.
He disclosed that of the 14 statutory milestones in the Revised Timetable released on February 26, 2026, nine have been executed, with operations synchronized across INEC’s 23 headquarters departments, 36 state offices, the FCT and 774 Local Government Area offices.
Voter Register Hits 103.43 Million
On voter registration, the INEC Chairman announced that the National Register of Voters now stands at 103.43 million after three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR.
Phase I, held from August 25 to December 10, 2025, registered 2,611,266 voters; Phase II, from January 5 to April 17, 2026, recorded 4,121,835; and Phase III, from May 11 to July 26, 2026, recorded 3,867,997. Total new registrations after Automated Biometric Identification System, ABIS, verification stand at 10,772,421.
Lagos leads with 7,488,633 registered voters, followed by Kano with 6,570,276 and Kaduna with 4,662,640. Ekiti has the lowest figure with 1,055,708, followed by Bayelsa with 1,200,691 and the FCT with 1,732,043.
Male voters account for 53,528,218 (51.75 percent) while female voters account for 49,900,497 (48.25 percent). By age, voters aged 35-49 dominate with 43.2 million (41.83 percent), followed by those aged 18-34 with 29.7 million (28.79 percent). The register contains 232,658 Persons With Disabilities (0.23 percent).
In line with Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, the register will be displayed for claims and objections from October 9 to 15, 2026. Distribution of Phase I PVCs to LGA centres begins on Friday, October 9, 2026, while the final register will be presented to political parties on December 15, 2026.
Amupitan said INEC introduced, for the first time, an Online Registration Portal in Phase III and Printable PVC technology under Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026 to eliminate distance barriers and end months-long waiting for cards. He added that the downloadable PVC was successfully tested in Osun State.
Party Nominations, Court Judgments
On party nominations, 18 out of 22 political parties submitted 36 presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Accord, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and Youth Party did not nominate presidential candidates, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, withdrew during the substitution window.
For the National Assembly, 1,313 candidates for the Senate and 3,547 for the House of Representatives were sponsored by 21 parties. For governorship and State Houses of Assembly, 21 parties nominated 936 governorship and deputy governorship candidates and 9,692 State Assembly candidates.
The Commission said 112 complaints arising from the nominations were resolved, but noted a Supreme Court judgment in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party delivered on September 24, 2026, affirming Section 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act 2026, whose Certified True Copy was received on Tuesday morning.
The Commission also restored 27 state constituencies in Benue, Delta, Jigawa and Kogi States between June and August 2026 following court judgments, and created two new constituencies — Warri South West II and Warri North II in Delta State.
Logistics, Technology and Security
On logistics, Amupitan said procurement has entered the contract execution stage, with 57,000 new BVAS devices in production, alongside ballot boxes, voting cubicles and operational vehicles. Civil works, including BVAS storage facilities, LGA offices and solar power installations, are ongoing, while printing of ballot papers and result sheets is nearing completion.
For deployment to 176,846 polling units across 8,838 Registration Areas, INEC has renewed Memoranda of Understanding with the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, to mobilise over 100,000 vehicles and 4,000 boats, with special provisions for riverine, mountainous and desert terrains.
He said sensitive materials will be moved from Central Bank of Nigeria vaults to LGAs 72 hours before the polls and will reach all Registration Area Centres, RACs, by 4 p.m. on election eve to guarantee a 7:30 a.m. opening on election day.
On technology, he announced software hardening and battery optimisation of BVAS, cryptographic authentication of eEC8A result sheets uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV, establishment of an Artificial Intelligence Division under a five-pillar AI Governance Framework, and AI-driven anomaly detection to shield portals from cyber intrusions.
A six-day BVAS stress test is scheduled for October 23-28, 2026, with nationwide mock accreditation in November 2026.
He warned against deepfakes, voice cloning and fake result sheets, urging the media to establish fact-checking desks, verify information with INEC before publishing, and resist declaring privately collated results. He added that INEC’s Media Accreditation Portal will go live before the end of October.
On security, Amupitan said joint training will be conducted for thousands of electoral security personnel under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES, with anti-vote-buying surveillance in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU.
1.4 Million Ad Hoc Staff Required
The Commission will require 707,384 ad hoc staff for the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, and the same number for the Governorship and State Assembly elections on February 6, 2027 — a total of 1,414,768 engagements, up from 1.2 million in 2023.
Recruitment via the INECPRES portal opened on September 18 and will close on November 18, 2026. Corps members will constitute over 70 percent of the workforce.
Amupitan said funding has been sustained by timely releases from the Federal Government but appealed for prompt release of the remaining budget.
“We reassure the nation and the international community of our total commitment to neutrality, operational excellence and the sacred integrity of the ballot box,” he said.
