NIGERIA GENERAL ELECTIONS 2027,
VOTE POLICING, TRACKING MECHANISM, REAL-TIME PARALLEL VOTE TABULATION AND REPORTING THROUGH INEC ELECTION OBSERVERS MISSION; REQUEST FOR COLLABORATION AND SUPPORT
Election is said to be politicking – struggle for power, where citizens exercise their franchise to vote and be voted for which is the beauty of democracy.
Nigeria as a democratic nation shall be going to the poll on the 16th of January, 2027 to elect a new president or renew the mandate of the incumbent president for a second term of four years.
To carefully monitor the credibility of the election and the level of compliance to our relevant electoral laws and guidelines for the election released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as it concerns to the mandate of the people really counting and the integrity of the election, we write to humbly request for the collaboration and support of good spirited Nigerians, national and International organizations committed to democratic principle, rule of law, constitutional rights and leadership excellence, to carry out the underlisted strategic election activities: –
VOTE PROTECTION, TRACKING AND POLICING MECHANISM:
Nigeria is made up of Seven Hundred and Seventy-four (774) Local Government Areas, Eight Thousand, Eight Hundred and Nine (8,809) INEC Registration Areas/Wards and One Hundred and Seventy-six thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Four (176,974) Polling Units.
Given the strategic nature of this election, for adequate and effective vote monitoring, protection and tracking mechanism, we wish to accredit, train and deploy at least five (5) Community Intelligent Officers as INEC Election Observers in each of the 8,809 INEC Wards in Nigeria, during the election to do the needful. Total observers to be accredited, trained and deployed: 44,045
The accredited persons will be trained on some Legal framework for the election, Vote Policing, Vote Protection and tracking mechanism, BVAS machine operations, election result tabulation and transmission, etc.
As INEC accredited observers, they will have immunity to move around during the election without security restriction or harassment as they will be kitted with INEC official and customized Identification (ID) Cards, T-Shirts, Caps, etc.
They will also be giving on-the-spot information from their various Polling Units/Wards directly to the Situation Room for swift response where necessary.
PARALLEL VOTE TABULATION OF REPORTING:
These special accredited observers will be carefully trained on Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) and all-round election activities reporting.
They will be giving real-time election results to the Central Situation Room for Parallel Vote Tabulation and record keeping.
TRAINING OF THE OBSERVERS: –
It is going to be an intensive two months training exercise across the country. Our experts include; very professional Resource Persons on election management and conduct, including our ECOWAS partners and INEC Directors, etc.
RECRUITMENT AND DEPLOYMENT:
Patriotism, Integrity, community familiarity is a core criterion.
We hope to collaborate with some reliable Civil Society Organizations in the recruitment process for the Local Government Intelligent Officer across the entire 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria. These Local Government Intelligent Officers’ main objective is to;
- Carefully scan the environment politically and otherwise.
- Engage stakeholders across political, community, and civil society platforms for cooperation and legitimacy.
- Promote continuous community engagement before the elections.
- Recruit Community Intelligent Officers (CIO) across communities in all LGAs, using integrity and community familiarity as core criteria also. The Community Intelligent Officers (CIO) will then be accredited, trained and deployed as INEC ELECTION OBSERVERS in their various communities.
- The INEC Election Observers will then take over the do the needful of vote protection, tacking and policing, etc.
MODALITIES AND TIMELINE:
- Recruitment, Screening and setting: – Two Month – the entire month of May and June.
- Training: Location: Across the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards, except where advised for security reasons.
Timeline: two Month, the entire month of July and August
- Polling Units Mapping and Intelligent Gathering: Two Months: September and October, 2026.
- Process review and considerations: November, 2026
- Pre-Election World Press Conference: The Six geo-political Zones, December, 2026.
- Deployment of observers: January, 2027.
- Monitoring of Presidential and National Assembly elections: January, 2027.
We therefore, humbly request for Your Excellency’s kind collaboration and support in carrying out and achieving the key objectives of this very important strategic national assignment.
ABOUT US:
Grassroots Development and Peace Initiative is a Pan- Nigeria Civil Society Organization established since 2010 but finally and officially registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2018. We are grassroots development driven; committed to peace building, conflict resolution mechanism, strengthening democratic values, promotion of good governance and leadership excellence through performance awareness creation in Nigeria. We are also committed to ensuring that a beautiful brand of democracy that respect the rule of law and constitutional rights of citizens become a national ethos that must be pursued with vigour.
COLLABORATING PARTNERS:
Our organization is in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Nigeria, State Independent Electoral Commission (ISECs), Network of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria, and other National and International Organizations on Community Development and Humanitarian Services, Democracy/Election Assistance, Observation and Management, Good Governance and Peace Building, etc.
Thank you, in anticipation of your response, we will appreciate giving further clarifications as us or this appeal as may be requested.
Yours Faithfully;
Comrade Victor Kalu,
Chairman, BOT/CEO.