To test enhancements to its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and electronic results transmission, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set November 28, 2026, for a nationwide mock mock presidential Poll, accreditation and voting exercise ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The commission also announced that it has begun deploying non-sensitive electoral materials to states across the country in preparation for the polls.
INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN) disclosed plans for the mock exercise on Thursday during an event at Chatham House in London themed “Nigeria’s 2027 Elections: Democratic Trajectory and Regional Stability Beyond the Ballot,” which was hosted in partnership with the Kimpact Development Initiative.
In a statement released in Abuja and signed by his Chief Press Secretary and Media Advisor, Adedayo Oketola, Amupitan noted that the exercise will simulate the presidential poll, enabling the commission to assess the performance of its accreditation and electronic transmission systems ahead of the elections.
“On the 28th of this month, we will conduct a mock accreditation and voting exercise across all states of the federation to simulate the presidential election and verify that we have gotten both accreditation and electronic result transmission right,” he said.
The INEC chairman further explained that the commission has introduced technical safeguards to block figures indicating over-voting or inaccurate polling unit tallies from being uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal.
Amupitan reveals where 2023 election failed
According to him, the commission’s post-2023 audit found that collation centers—rather than polling units—were the primary source of issues in the management of election results.
“We found that the core problem of election result management and declaration in Nigeria is not even at the polling unit—it is at the collation centres.
“We have now devised a technical safeguard: if a result is not accurate at the polling unit, it will not go to IReV at all,” he said.
He noted that given the limited time remaining before the 2027 polls, the commission opted to upgrade its existing voting technology instead of introducing an entirely new system.
To address concerns over Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) malfunctions experienced during the 2023 general elections, Amupitan stated that INEC is constructing climate-controlled storage facilities across the states to protect the devices from extreme temperatures.
He added that the commission has procured additional BVAS machines and reduced the maximum number of registered voters assigned to each device from 1,250 to 850.
After speaking in details about election funding and BVAS, Amupitan further urged Nigerians to trust his leadership, acknowledging that the controversies surrounding the 2023 presidential election had significantly damaged public confidence in the electoral commission.
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