A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Festus Okoye, has warned that Nigeria’s 2027 general election could face serious credibility and logistical challenges from sophisticated vote-buying, manipulated party primaries, security gaps, displaced communities and declining public confidence in the judiciary.
Okoye raised the concerns recently during a virtual masterclass organised by the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters, Lagos chapter, where he urged journalists to strengthen their investigative and legal capacities ahead of the election.
He said the threats facing the next general election were no longer limited to the traditional forms of electoral malpractice, warning that some of the problems could emerge from the way political parties, security agencies and even the courts operate during the electoral process.
On vote-buying, Okoye said electoral inducement had evolved from the discreet distribution of money before voting to more visible transactions taking place around polling units.
He described the emerging practice as “regenerated vote-buying,” saying cash could now be distributed openly to voters from several sources and sometimes according to the number of votes recorded.
According to him, electoral fraud had moved from “covert, off-site home distributions disguised as ‘empowerment’ to “brazen, tally-based transactions executed directly at polling units where voters collect cash from multiple sources.”
Okoye warned that the development presented a particular challenge for journalists because conventional reporting of voting-day activities might fail to capture the networks financing and coordinating such operations.
He also identified the increasing movement of politicians between political parties as another potential threat to the integrity of the 2027 process.
With party manifestos increasingly difficult to distinguish from one another, he said politicians were becoming more willing to change platforms in search of advantageous tickets.
Okoye linked the trend to what he described as compromised and “shambolic” party primaries, particularly those influenced by incumbent governors.
He said dissatisfied aspirants emerging from such contests were increasingly likely to “shop” for alternative parties through which they could pursue their political ambitions.
The former INEC commissioner also raised concerns about the capacity of Nigeria’s security infrastructure to cope with a nationwide election.
He cautioned against using the experience of isolated off-cycle elections as a measure of the country’s readiness for the 2027 general elections.
The level of security deployment and other resources available for elections such as the Osun governorship poll, he argued, would be difficult to reproduce simultaneously across the country.
“This is not an election in one state,” was the underlying concern in his assessment, as he said the scale of a nationwide election would place considerably greater demands on the security architecture.
Okoye further pointed to communities affected by insecurity as a less visible but potentially significant problem for the next election.
He said prolonged violence had left some rural communities and local government areas effectively depopulated, creating questions that went beyond whether residents could vote.
The situation, he said, raised logistical and structural concerns over where voting would take place, how displaced populations would participate and how results from affected areas would be collated.
“Abandoned communities and displaced LGAs” therefore represent a challenge that election planners and journalists would need to examine before voting day, rather than after the polls.
Perhaps the most consequential concern he identified was the growing perception that Nigeria’s courts increasingly determine who ultimately exercises political power.
Okoye said public confidence in the electoral process could suffer if the judiciary continued to be viewed not simply as the institution that resolves electoral disputes but as the body that ultimately determines political mandates.
He described the issue as “judicial mandate conferment,” warning that the perception posed a serious test for public trust in democracy.
The former electoral commissioner urged broadcasters and other journalists to understand the constitutional and legal framework governing elections if they were to properly scrutinise political actors and institutions in 2027.
He said newsrooms would need to move beyond routine campaign coverage and develop the capacity to investigate the financial, political, security and legal structures surrounding the election.
Okoye’s warning comes as political parties and prospective candidates begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 general elections, with disputes over party tickets, defections and electoral reforms already shaping the political environment.
The masterclass was organised by the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters, Lagos Chapter, as part of its professional capacity-building activities for broadcast journalists.
