The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced plans to conduct a nationwide mock presidential election ahead of the 2027 general elections. The exercise is designed to thoroughly test the commission’s result-transmission infrastructure and prevent a recurrence of the technical setbacks experienced in previous polls.
INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, made the disclosure on Sunday during the Citizens’ Townhall on the Electoral Act 2026 held in Abuja. He assured Nigerians of the commission’s resolve to deliver the most credible election in the country’s history.
“By the grace of God, the 2027 election will be the best Nigeria has ever had,” Amupitan declared. He noted that the 2027 electorate is more aware and understands the direct link between credible elections and national development.
The planned mock presidential exercise will simulate a full nationwide presidential poll to confirm seamless transmission of results across state boundaries. Amupitan explained that while the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) performed reliably in state-level off-cycle governorship elections before 2023, the 2023 presidential election, being interstate in scope, exposed gaps due to insufficient large-scale stress testing.
“Election anywhere in the world is now about technology, but before deploying any technology, it is important to test it thoroughly,” he said. “One of the things we are trying to do before the election is to have a mock presidential election, so that we are sure that this transmission across the state must not fail.”
The chairman expressed confidence that the technical glitches recorded during the 2023 presidential election would not reoccur. “The glitch is eliminated; by God’s grace, it will not surface in Nigeria,” he stated. He added that apart from occasional delays, there had been no outright failure of result transmission in other elections conducted by the commission.
Amupitan clarified that legal provisions allowing alternative collation methods exist only as safeguards. “During the last FCT election, apart from that delay, we didn’t have any transmission failure, meaning that it is just a proviso, a safety. If it fails, results must still be transmitted. But our determination is that it will not fail,” he emphasized.
The announcement comes shortly after INEC revised the timetable for the 2027 general elections following the signing of the Electoral Act 2026 into law by President Bola Tinubu. The updated schedule sets the Presidential and National Assembly elections for January 16, 2027, and the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections for February 6, 2027 – earlier than the previously announced dates of February 20 and March 6 respectively.
The Electoral Act 2026 amendments provide a clearer legal framework for result transmission, authorizing a hybrid approach of electronic transmission where infrastructure permits, with manual backups as needed. Supporters describe the model as pragmatic, while critics, including the African Democratic Congress and New Nigeria Peoples Party, have labelled it anti-democratic and are pressing for further amendments.
Amupitan reiterated INEC’s commitment to credible polls, saying: “We want a process that guarantees the legitimacy and confidence people want to see in their system. When people trust INEC and their leaders, the country will move forward.”
While acknowledging that absolute perfection may be challenging, the chairman pledged significant improvements. “We will try to give Nigerians a near-perfect election,” he said, describing credible elections as “the lifeblood of democracy.”
He identified logistics, result management, and network availability, rather than electronic transmission itself, as the principal operational challenges the commission is working to address to enhance transparency and credibility in 2027.
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