Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Professor Joash Amupitan, the newly nominated chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to “prioritise and ensure the effective prosecution of politicians and their sponsors who are suspected to be responsible for electoral offences, including violence, bribery, vote-buying, conspiracy, and undue influence during the general elections and off-cycle elections since 2015.”
In the letter dated 11 October 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said impunity for past electoral offences is a major barrier to free and fair elections in Nigeria, stressing that Amupitan must demonstrate that INEC under his watch would not tolerate electoral offences in the country’s elections.
SERAP, among others, also urged him to “prioritise the amendment of the Electoral Act 2022 to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections in 2027, in conformity with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the country’s international obligations.”
