‘The Era of Ballot Box Snatching, Result Manipulation Is Over’ — INEC Sends Strong Message Ahead of 2027

• INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan says the era of ballot box snatching and manual result manipulation is over.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, has assured Nigerians that ballot box snatching and manual manipulation of election results will no longer determine the outcome of elections, citing improved technological safeguards ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Speaking in Abuja while receiving the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, Amupitan said the commission’s current technology is robust enough to protect every legitimate vote.

“We need to teach them why their vote matters and how our new legal and technological safeguards protect their choices… because of the current technological infrastructure, the era of snatching ballot boxes or rewriting results manually is gone,” he said.

The INEC chairman acknowledged the commission’s successes during recent elections, including the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and timely uploads to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). However, he warned that voter apathy and misinformation remain major challenges ahead of the 2027 polls.

He stressed that technology alone cannot guarantee credible elections without proper voter education, urging INEC and the NOA to intensify grassroots campaigns to educate Nigerians on the electoral process and discourage vote-buying and misinformation.

Amupitan also pledged full institutional support for the partnership, describing civic education as essential to strengthening Nigeria’s democracy.