The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has intensified preparations for the 2027 general elections with a North-East operational readiness review in Gombe, where Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan charged officials to uphold neutrality, prioritise security and close logistical gaps to ensure credible polls.
INEC brought together National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners from the six North-East states and senior officials in Gombe for a field-level review of preparations.
The exercise is intended to identify operational gaps before the country’s more than 103 million registered voters go to the polls.
“The true integrity of an election is not determined in the air-conditioned conference rooms of Abuja; it is forged in the field,” Amupitan said, underscoring the commission’s focus on personnel readiness, functional facilities and coordination at the grassroots.
The Gombe meeting is the latest stage of a tour that began in Lagos on September 7, covering the South-West, before moving to Kaduna on September 28 for the North-West and Enugu on October 20 for the South-East.
INEC arrived in Gombe on October 26 to assess the North-East.
The region has 13,965,475 registered voters, or 13.51% of the national total, according to the commission.
The figures are being finalized as INEC completes its data-cleaning exercise following the conclusion of Continuous Voter Registration
(CVR).
Gombe State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mukhtar Umar said the state has three senatorial districts, six federal constituencies, 24 state constituencies, 114 registration areas and 2,988 polling units.
He put the state’s registered voters at 1,768,566 before the completion of the Automated Biometric Identification System process.
Recruitment of ad hoc election staff has begun through the INECPRES portal, while training for election officials is underway.
The commission’s ICT and Voter Registration Department has also begun preliminary checks on the equipment and infrastructure needed for the election.
Amupitan said the safety of voters, officials and observers is fundamental to electoral credibility, adding that INEC would continue coordinating with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
He urged officials to study the Electoral Act 2026, the 2026 election regulations and operational manuals, while warning against political pressure, financial inducement, intimidation and ethnic bias.
Officials were also instructed to document electoral activities properly.
Helen Ajayi, the commission’s Director of Planning and Monitoring, said the zonal engagement is intended to measure state-level preparedness, identify challenges and reinforce compliance with INEC’s code of conduct ahead of the election.
