The Department of State Services has uncovered and arrested suspects allegedly involved in a plan to attack election ad hoc personnel, particularly members of the National Youth Service Corps, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, revealed this on Tuesday in Enugu during the commission’s South-East Zonal Interactive Meeting with Staff and Readiness Assessment for the 2027 general election.
Amupitan said the commission had identified possible security threats targeting its temporary election workers and was collaborating with security agencies to prevent attacks during the polls.
He disclosed that intelligence supplied by the DSS led to the discovery of the alleged plot and the arrest of those suspected to be involved, adding that they would soon face prosecution.
The INEC chairman also announced plans to convene a security conference to examine emerging threats and strengthen the commission’s preparations for the forthcoming elections.
He said INEC had renewed its collaboration with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security and was working with security agencies at federal and state levels to establish an intelligence-led security arrangement.
According to him, the commission is also deploying its Election Risk Management tools to identify possible threats and improve security planning ahead of the polls.
On voter registration, Amupitan directed a review of Continuous Voter Registration records in the South-East and ordered the removal of obstacles delaying the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards to registered voters.
He said the exercise was intended to ensure that eligible Nigerians were not denied the opportunity to vote because of administrative or logistical difficulties.
“The primary operational focus in the South-East is to review our local CVR records and dismantle every bottleneck affecting Permanent Voters Card (PVC) distribution,” he said.
“Our objective is uncompromising: no eligible citizen who registered should be disenfranchised by administrative or logistical friction,” he added.
Amupitan disclosed that Nigeria’s national voters’ register had grown to more than 103 million following three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise conducted between August 2025 and July 2026.
He said the first phase, which ran from August 25 to December 10, 2025, recorded 2,611,266 new voters, while the second phase, held between January 5 and April 17, 2026, added 4,121,835 registrants.
The third phase, conducted from May 11 to July 26, 2026, recorded another 3,867,997 voters, bringing the total number of new registrations across the three phases to 10,772,421.
He, however, explained that the figures were still undergoing final verification through the Automated Biometric Identification System at the commission’s national headquarters.
The INEC chairman further disclosed that an online registration platform was introduced during the third phase to make the process more accessible and reduce challenges associated with distance and time.
He said the commission had also activated printable Permanent Voter Card technology in accordance with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, a measure expected to reduce delays in the collection of voter cards.
Amupitan described the Enugu engagement as the third stop in INEC’s nationwide election-readiness assessment, following similar meetings in Lagos on September 7 and Kaduna on September 28.
On election technology, he said the commission was upgrading its result-management process through the introduction of the eEC8A electronic verification platform, designed to strengthen the authentication of polling-unit results before their collation at higher levels through the INEC Result Viewing Portal.
He added that INEC had purchased new operational pickup vehicles for deployment to state and local government offices, while arrangements were ongoing to procure official vehicles for administrative secretaries.
The commission, he said, had also established an Electoral Logistics Committee to coordinate preparations and was improving staff capacity through physical training and information and communications technology-based programmes.
On workers’ welfare, Amupitan said the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure took effect on January 1, 2026, adding that plans for a new salary and welfare package for staff, commission members and resident electoral commissioners were at an advanced stage.
He further disclosed that monthly overhead allocations to state offices had been increased by 150 per cent from July 1, 2026.
The INEC chairman urged electoral officers to familiarise themselves with relevant laws, maintain political neutrality, properly document their activities and safeguard the credibility of the electoral process.
