Your Votes Protected, Technology Has Ended Ballot Box Snatching, INEC Assures Nigerians

July 01 () — The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that their votes will be protected in the 2027 general elections, declaring that advances in electoral technology have ended the era of ballot box snatching and the manual manipulation of election results.

The assurance was given on Wednesday by the Chairman of the commission, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), when he received the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, on a courtesy visit to the INEC headquarters in Abuja, where both institutions pledged to deepen collaboration on voter education and civic engagement ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Amupitan said the commission’s legal and technological safeguards have significantly strengthened the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process, but warned that voter apathy and misinformation remain major threats that must be addressed through sustained public enlightenment.

Recalling that the presidential election is scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship elections will follow on February 6, 2027, Amupitan said intensive voter education must commence immediately to ensure Nigerians understand both the value of their votes and the safeguards protecting them.

“We need to teach them why their vote matters and how our new legal and technological safeguards protect their choices.

“We must look the rural farmer, the marketplace woman, and the disillusioned urban youth in the eye and explain to them, in the language they understand, that because of the current technological infrastructure, the era of snatching ballot boxes or rewriting results manually is gone,” he said.

Amupitan said recent elections had demonstrated the effectiveness of INEC’s technology-driven reforms.

He cited the February 21 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections and the June 20 Ekiti State off-cycle governorship election, noting that both polls recorded over 90 per cent early opening of polling units, successful voter accreditation through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and prompt uploading of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

Despite those operational gains, he admitted that the elections also exposed worrying levels of voter apathy and confusion among many urban voters regarding polling unit splits and voter registration transfers.

“This is a clear indicator that while our technology is moving forward, civic familiarity with the evolving system is lagging.

“It is a loud diagnostic signal that far more needs to be done in the area of intensive, deep-rooted voter education, and it proves that we cannot afford to wait until the eve of the 2027 polls to start talking to our people,” he stated.

The INEC chairman stressed that technology alone cannot deliver credible elections without an informed and engaged electorate.

“We can purchase the finest BVAS machines, we can optimise the IReV to international standards, and we can map out the most logistical routes for material deployment.

“But all of these technological and administrative triumphs mean nothing if the citizens remain detached, cynical, or completely uneducated about the power of their votes,” he said.

Describing the National Orientation Agency as Nigeria’s foremost institution for civic enlightenment, Amupitan said both organisations share a constitutional responsibility to deepen democratic culture and restore public confidence in elections.

He called for a decentralised, grassroots voter education campaign that would not only educate Nigerians on voting procedures but also combat vote-buying, fake news, and electoral misinformation.

“Together, INEC and the NOA must rewrite this narrative. We need to co-create a decentralised, grassroots voter education campaign that goes beyond simply telling people when to vote,” he said, adding that the partnership between the two agencies “is not a secondary option; it is an absolute necessity.”

Amupitan also commended Issa-Onilu’s leadership and understanding of modern strategic communication, stressing that civic orientation in today’s digital era must be youth-driven, interactive, and technology-enabled rather than relying solely on traditional bureaucratic approaches.

He pledged INEC’s full institutional backing for the collaboration.

Earlier, the NOA Director-General, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, underscored the urgency of expanding voter education, lamenting the low turnout recorded during elections despite the large number of registered voters nationwide.

He said the agency had intensified community-based advocacy but required closer collaboration with INEC to improve voter participation and strengthen civic consciousness.