By our correspondent<\/p>\n
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, (CNPP), has raised serious concerns over potential compromise in the recruitment, screening, appointment and deployment of electoral personnel ahead of the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued on Wednesday by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade James Ezema, the group urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), to ensure no individual with demonstrable partisan commitments occupies sensitive electoral positions.<\/p>\n
The warning follows reported endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for re-election by more than 600 senior academics from public universities in Northern Nigeria at a meeting convened in Kaduna in September 2026 by Ibrahim Masari, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters.<\/p>\n
The CNPP noted that reports indicated that the invitation expressly sought endorsement and active support for the President’s 2027 re-election, but said identities of the 600 participants have not been publicly established, while some persons named as participants have denied attending.<\/p>\n
The umbrella body of registered political parties said it recognises the constitutional right of every Nigerian, including academics, to support candidates, but stressed that persons who openly express support for a candidate should not be recruited into sensitive electoral positions.<\/p>\n
It noted that concern has become important because INEC has commenced recruitment of ad-hoc personnel for 2027, including Supervisory Presiding Officers, Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, RAC Managers and Registration Area Technical Support personnel.<\/p>\n
The CNPP cited Section 27(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 which provides that INEC shall not appoint as election officer any person who is a member of a political party or who has openly expressed support for any candidate.<\/p>\n
It said INEC’s own position ahead of 2023 was that university staff who were card-carrying members of political parties or had obvious political leanings should not be nominated, with Collation and Returning Officers to swear oath of neutrality.<\/p>\n
Consequently, the CNPP asked INEC to publicly clarify whether any of the academics reported to have endorsed Tinubu have applied or been considered, how it will verify political endorsements, and what documentary standards it will use to determine open support under Section 27.<\/p>\n
The group also called for publication of names of persons appointed to sensitive collation positions, a transparent objection mechanism for parties and civil society, and clarification that no ministry or political actor has role in recommending electoral personnel.<\/p>\n
The CNPP warned that if Nigerians believe officials were selected based on loyalty rather than neutrality, confidence in polling and collation could be weakened, urging proactive observation of recruitment, training and result management to protect integrity of 2027 polls now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By our correspondent The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, (CNPP), has raised serious concerns over potential compromise in the recruitment, screening, appointment and deployment of electoral personnel ahead of the 2027 general elections. In a statement issued on Wednesday by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade James Ezema, the group urged the Independent National Electoral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909","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=17909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17910,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909\/revisions\/17910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}