INEC Rules Out Postponement of 2027 Polls

***Says Statutory timetable Sacrosanct, Fixed

***Final Voters’ Register for December 15

By Okechukwu Eze, Abuja

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, has declared that the Commission will not shift the dates for the 2027 general elections, putting to rest growing speculations of a possible postponement.

Amupitan made the declaration on Saturday, October 31, 2026, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during an interactive meeting with INEC staff, Resident Electoral Commissioners and senior officials from the six states of the South-South geopolitical zone.

The meeting, convened to assess the Commission’s level of preparedness for the forthcoming polls, was attended by electoral officers, administrative secretaries and heads of departments who briefed the Chairman on logistical challenges and voter registration complaints in the zone.

Addressing speculations fuelled by some political parties that the Commission was considering shifting the polls under the guise of public health concerns over the Ebola outbreak, Amupitan was unequivocal. “Our statutory timeline is fixed. We will not change anything. The election must be held as scheduled,” he declared.

According to INEC’s published timetable, which the Chairman reaffirmed, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will be held on January 16, 2027, while the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections are slated for February 6, 2027.

Amupitan disclosed that preparations were already in top gear and that the Commission would publish the final voters’ register on December 15, 2026, after resolving all complaints and objections arising from the display of the preliminary register.

He stressed that INEC was committed to conducting peaceful, transparent and credible elections that will move the nation forward, insisting that it is the people of Nigeria, not artificial intelligence, algorithms or any other extraneous factor, that will decide the outcome of the polls.

“We will conduct elections that will move the nation forward and not an election that will bring it down,” Amupitan said, urging staff to remain non-partisan and to uphold the provisions of the Electoral Act in the discharge of their duties.

Political observers say the Chairman’s statement is a direct response to allegations by opposition parties, particularly the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which had accused the Federal Government of plotting to use the Ebola scare to extend its tenure by postponing the elections.