By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
As the nation draws close to 2027 election, Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Joash Amupitan has admitted that the commission faces a significant “trust deficit” with the public and on the media to help reshape the national narrative ahead of a busy cycle of polls.<\/p>\n
The INEC Boss made this declaration during a courtesy visit from the Executive Committee of the INEC Press Corps in Abuja on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Recall that this was the first formal meeting between the commission’s leadership and the specialist media group since Professor Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was appointed to the role in late 2025.<\/p>\n
On rebuilding Public Confidence,Professor Amupitan commended the media for their professional support, noting that the commission remains acutely aware of the skepticism often held by the Nigerian electorate.<\/p>\n
He urged the media to partner with INEC in ensuring that the transparency of the electoral process is effectively communicated to the 200 million-strong population.<\/p>\n
Earlier,Chairman of the Press Corps, Segun Ojumu, who led the delegation, praised the “transparent manner” in which Professor Amupitan has managed the commission since taking office.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ojumu described Nigerian elections as a “huge logistical challenge” that requires the collaboration of all stakeholders to succeed.<\/p>\n
The Chairman was accompanied by:
\nJohn Onah, Assistant Secretary of the Press Corps and
\nChux Ukwuatu, Welfare Director. <\/p>\n
The Road to 2027 and Beyond<\/p>\n
The meeting comes as INEC ramps up preparations for several high-stakes elections. Nigeria is currently following a revised electoral roadmap following the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026.<\/p>\n
The 2027 General Election<\/p>\n
The commission has scheduled the next nationwide polls for early 2027:
\nJanuary 16, 2027: Presidential and National Assembly elections.<\/p>\n
February 6, 2027: Governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
\nOff-Cycle Governorship Polls
\nBefore the general elections, the commission faces critical “litmus tests” in two southwest states where the electoral cycles are out of sync with the rest of the country.<\/p>\n
These “off-cycle” elections are often seen as indicators of the commission’s readiness for the national stage:
\nEkiti State: Scheduled for June 20, 2026.
\nOsun State: Scheduled for August 8, 2026.
\nProfessor Amupitan, who succeeded Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has pledged to deliver “free, fair, and inclusive” polls as the country enters this intensive electoral window.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke As the nation draws close to 2027 election, Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Joash Amupitan has admitted that the commission faces a significant “trust deficit” with the public and on the media to help reshape the national narrative ahead of a busy cycle of polls. The INEC Boss made this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4244,6060,3548,1222],"class_list":["post-11996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-effectively","tag-manner","tag-preparations","tag-transparent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11998,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11996\/revisions\/11998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}