Issued in Abuja @ 11:00 am on Monday, 30th June 2025
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room)—a platform of more than 70 Civic Organisations committed to credible elections and good governance—has released its comprehensive Credibility Threshold for Nigeria’s 2027 General Election. Drawing on lessons from the 2015–2023 cycles, global best practice, and the lived realities of Nigerian voters, the document defines the non-negotiable standards that the 2027 polls must meet to be accepted as free, fair, inclusive, peaceful, and technologically secure.
“Nigeria can no longer afford elections that leave citizens doubting the sanctity of their vote,” said Situation Room Convener, Yunusa Z Yau. “This Credibility Threshold tells every actor—government, INEC, political parties, security agencies, the judiciary, civil society, and the media—exactly what must be done and by when. No excuses, no back-sliding. Credible elections are a shared responsibility. Meeting this Threshold is not optional; it is the democratic debt owed to every Nigerian voter in 2027.”
According to Situation Room, the Threshold rests on seven guiding principles: independence and impartiality; transparency and accountability; inclusivity and equality; rule of law and due process; technology and cyber-security; sustainability and cost-effectiveness; and civic dialogue with information integrity.
In the Threshold issued by the Situation Room, it outlined six pillars of credibility that the 2027 general elections must meet, for it to be credible, including, INEC institutional integrity, robust legal and accountability framework, transparent results management and technology, security and justice, internal party democracy and good campaign conduct, and inclusive participation and civic dialogue.
Appointments to the offices of Chair, National Commissioners, and Resident Electoral Commissioners must be merit-based, publicly transparent, and completed well before the 2027 polls. Nominees should have been politically neutral for at least a decade, disclose assets and links to politically exposed persons, and undergo open Senate confirmation hearings broadcast live, preceded by a 14-day petition window. Situation Room expects that the National Assembly will screen nominees rigorously and provide written reasons for its decisions.
Situation Room is also asking that all Constitutional or Electoral Act amendments be finalised no later than December 2025, closing gaps on results transmission, campaign-finance ceilings, and accreditation technology. Post-election, the National Assembly must institute independent performance audits within two weeks, while INEC must operate a public e-portal that allows citizens to file and track complaints against election officials. Annual joint oversight hearings—bringing together INEC, security agencies, the EFCC, and others—must review readiness and spending in the open, stated the Situation Room.
Situation Room is also demanding transparent election results management, supported by reliable and trusted technology. It stated that polling-unit results must be digitally uploaded to INEC’s IReV portal within two hours of declaration, while collation at all levels must be livestreamed without interruption. Observers and party agents are to enjoy legal protection to record and broadcast proceedings. Where violence or systemic device failure arises, a statutory 24-hour “pause clause” should permit collation to halt until integrity can be assured.
According to the Situation Room an integrated Election Security Framework, led by the Inspector-General of Police and anchored in human-rights-based policing, must be published by December 2026. Officers should wear body-cams where available, and citizens must have access to a real-time hotline and incident-mapping dashboard. The Electoral Offences Commission Act must be enacted and operational by December 2025, supported by special offences courts that conclude trials within 180 days. Quarterly scorecards will list arrests, prosecutions, and convictions, disaggregated by offence, location, sex, and party, said the Situation Room.
Situation Room is also calling on all political parties contesting the elections to ensure the operation of internal democracy in their parties and further ensure that there is a live broadcast of party primaries based on certified membership or delegate registers 48 hours beforehand. Each party must run a real-time campaign-finance dashboard—capped at statutory limits—and sign an enforceable Peace and Issue-Based Accord overseen by credible observers and the media.
The Situation Room demanded that there be inclusive participation and civic dialogue in the elections. According to Situation Room, continuous voter registration must resume promptly, with enough centres and accessible equipment—particularly for persons with disabilities—to register new voters and process transfers. INEC and the National Orientation Agency must deliver a 24-month multilingual civic-education campaign via community radio, schools, faith networks, and youth influencers, focusing on gender equality, disability inclusion, and anti-disinformation. Throughout, INEC must publish turnout, polling-unit-level results, and logistics data in machine-readable formats, while collaborating with fact-checking coalitions and social-media platforms to stem election falsehoods, the Situation Room said.
Situation Room stated that it will monitor and issue compliance performance reports as follows:
- Quarterly public scorecards, beginning Q4 2025, will rate compliance by INEC, the Presidency, National Assembly, security agencies, political parties, and the judiciary.
- Situation Room will convene high-level dialogues with these actors and activate an Early Warning and Rapid Response Hub to escalate urgent threats to election integrity.
- A Pre-Election Credibility Report will be issued in January 2027, followed by Election-Day and Post-Election statements.
- A detailed Operational Guide, containing indicators, timelines, and verification tools, will be released in Q4 2025.
In releasing its Credibility Threshold for Nigeria’s 2027 General Election, Situation Room made the following Call to action:
- Presidency & National Assembly: Conclude all electoral appointments and reforms within stipulated deadlines; pass the Electoral Offences Commission Bill, INEC-unbundling bills, and legislation on accelerated dispute resolution.
- INEC: Publish a full logistics and technology calendar by December 2025; open its complaints e-portal; resume continuous voter registration and audit the voter register.
- Security Agencies: Launch and publicise the Integrated Election Security Framework; equip officers with body-cams; protect observers and vulnerable voters.
- Political Parties & Candidates: Uphold transparent primaries, disclose campaign finances in real time, and maintain an issue-based campaign free of hate speech.
- Judiciary: Conclude pre-election cases before polling day and election petitions before inauguration; publish anonymised judgments online.
- Civil Society & Media: Observe and report professionally, amplify voter education, and fact-check in partnership with social-media platforms.
SIGNED:
Yunusa Z. Ya’u
Convener
Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
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The Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible elections and governance in Nigeria numbering more than seventy. The Steering Committee is made up of: Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Emma Ezeazu Centre for Good Governance and Accountability (formerly Alliance for Credible Elections, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Kimpact Development Initiative, Democratic Action Group(DAG), Women’s Rights to Education Programme, Joint National Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD), DIG Ebonyi, Life And Peace Development Organization (LAPDO), Rural Youth Initiative, Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI), Centre for Health and Development in Africa (CHEDA) and Josemaria Escriva Foundation.
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