The Independent National Electoral Commission says it will conduct a mock presidential election before the 2027 general elections to test its technology and avoid the technical problems that marred the 2023 polls.
INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan announced the plan on Sunday, March 1, while speaking at the Citizens’ Townhall on the Electoral Act 2026 in Abuja.
According to Amupitan, the mock exercise will help the commission verify that its result transmission system works properly across all states before the actual election.
He explained that while the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System was tested during state-level elections like those in Osun and Ekiti before 2023, it was not adequately stress-tested for a nationwide presidential election involving multiple states simultaneously.
“Election anywhere in the world is now about technology, but before deploying any technology, it is important to test it thoroughly.
“So, my own audit of the 2023 election, while the BVAS was tested within the states for the Osun election, Ekiti election, however, when it came to the federal election, especially the presidential election, which became interstate, it was not properly tested.
“One of the things we are trying to do before the election is to have a mock presidential election, so that we are sure that this transmission across the state must not fail,” Amupitan said.
The INEC chairman expressed confidence that the technical failures witnessed in 2023 would not repeat themselves in 2027.
“The glitch is eliminated; by God’s grace, it will not surface in Nigeria,” he said, noting that other elections conducted by the commission had not experienced outright transmission failures, only delays in some cases.
He clarified that provisions in the Electoral Act allowing manual collation are meant only as backup measures.
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“During the last FCT election, apart from that delay, we didn’t have any transmission failure, meaning that it is just a proviso, a safety. If it fails, results must still be transmitted. But our determination is that it will not fail,” he said.
Amupitan assured Nigerians that INEC is committed to delivering credible elections in 2027.
“By the grace of God, the 2027 election will be the best Nigeria has ever had. The electorate of 2027 is more aware and understands the direct correlation between elections and national development.
“We want a process that guarantees the legitimacy and confidence people want to see in their system. When people trust INEC and their leaders, the country will move forward.”
While acknowledging that achieving perfection may be difficult, the chairman said the commission is working to deliver significant improvements.
“We will try to give Nigerians a near-perfect election,” he said, describing credible elections as “the lifeblood of democracy.”
Amupitan identified logistics and result management as the two main operational challenges the commission faces, explaining that network availability—not the technology itself—remains the biggest obstacle to seamless electronic transmission.
“So result management and logistics are two basic issues that, from our own end, we’re trying to see how best we’re able to manage them very well, so as to enhance the transparency and credibility of the system,” he said.
The announcement comes amid ongoing political debate over the recently signed Electoral Act 2026, which President Bola Tinubu assented to following passage by the National Assembly.
Opposition parties, including the African Democratic Congress and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, have criticized the law and are demanding immediate amendments, describing it as anti-democratic and unfavorable to their chances in the 2027 elections.