The Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) has called on all stakeholders in Nigeria’s electoral process to embrace recent reforms and innovations introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure free, fair, and credible elections in 2027.
Speaking in Kaduna during a one-day town hall meeting, PAACA’s Executive Director, Ezenwa Nwagwu, emphasized the need for political parties, civil society groups, security agencies, the media, youth organizations, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and religious leaders to familiarize themselves with electoral changes made since 2015, especially those under the Electoral Act 2022.
“The forum was designed to bridge knowledge gaps on electoral reforms and address critical issues ahead of the 2027 elections,” Nwagwu said.
He highlighted key technological tools introduced by INEC—including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), the Election Monitoring Dashboard, and the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP)—as significant advancements that have bolstered transparency and accountability in the electoral process.
“Starting around the 2019 cycle and strengthened further by provisions in the Electoral Act 2022, INEC introduced online portals for political parties to submit the names and details of candidates who emerged from primaries. Parties now must upload results and supporting documents directly to the INEC candidate nomination portal (ICNP), with strict deadlines,” he explained.
Before these reforms, Nwagwu said, candidate submissions were largely manual and prone to manipulation.
“Party leaders could swap names at the last minute, sometimes after candidates had genuinely won primaries. This led to endless court cases, bitter intra-party disputes, and a sense among party members that the real contest wasn’t at the primary but at the party headquarters, where lists could be doctored before submission,” he said.
According to him, the reforms have had far-reaching effects:
Reduced last-minute substitutions by timestamping submissions and storing them electronically
Improved transparency, enabling closer scrutiny by journalists, monitors, and party members
Streamlined litigation, as courts now rely on official digital records from INEC
Also speaking at the event, Kaduna State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Danjuma Makama, urged Nigerians to take greater ownership of the electoral process by understanding and supporting reforms that strengthen democratic institutions.
Makama noted that the 2023 elections highlighted both shortcomings and opportunities for improvement, stressing the need for ongoing civic engagement.
“The NOA is committed to shaping public perception and promoting informed electoral participation. Continuous engagement with citizens is key to better decision-making during elections,” he said.
The town hall was part of PAACA’s broader initiative to prepare citizens and stakeholders for a more transparent and credible electoral cycle in 2027.
