Fresh alarm has been raised over the credibility of Nigeria’s forthcoming 2027 general elections, as insiders within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warn that the polls could become the most compromised in history if urgent reforms are not implemented.
According to information obtained by Vanguard, politicians are alleged to have infiltrated INEC’s internal operations, plotting to manipulate outcomes in key states through sophisticated rigging strategies.
One of the most troubling revelations involves the production of dual sets of EC8 result forms — EC8A (polling unit), EC8B (ward), and EC8C (local government).
“The scheme is to produce two sets of identical forms. One would be shown publicly at polling units, while the other would be secretly used to allocate votes strategically,” a source revealed.
The insider explained that this could result in deliberate discrepancies between results declared at polling units and those uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), effectively eroding public trust.
INEC’s innovations, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV, which were introduced to strengthen transparency, are reportedly now targets of manipulation.
Allegations of such practices have already surfaced in Kogi (2023), Edo (2024), and Ondo (2024) off-cycle elections, where pre-prepared results were allegedly uploaded before voting ended. Civil society observers even documented cases in Edo where votes cast exceeded accredited voters — a sign of possible electoral fraud.
Civil society groups and election monitors have also expressed concern, pointing to similar irregularities in by-elections conducted after 2023, ranging from delayed uploads on IReV to the use of alternative “original” result sheets allegedly circulated by compromised operatives.
Observers warn that without immediate reforms, Nigeria may be heading towards the most disputed election in its democratic history.
#NigeriaDecides2027 #INEC #ElectionRigging #INEC2027 #DemocracyUnderThreat
