The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has read out what seems like a riot act to anyone planning to attack electoral officials, or anyone who disrupts voting during the 2027 general elections in the country.

The commission vowed that anyone who engaged in any of these acts, or perpetrate any electoral offence would not go free, but would face the full wrath of the law.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan gave the warning in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, during a stakeholder meeting for the South-South geo-political zone.

The Presidential and National Assembly Elections hold on January 16, 2027, while the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6.

Amupitan said anyone who threatens, intimidates or harms the Commission’s ad-hoc staff, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or permanent personnel will be brought to justice.

The meeting was organised to assess the readiness of the Commission’s South-South offices for the elections and put in place measures to avert late arrival of electoral materials and personnel.

READ ALSO: ISWAP attacks Nigerian soldier, 4 terrorists leaders, two Arabs, others killed

Amupitan said: “Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law.”

The INEC Chairman however, said “true electoral integrity is forged in the field,” especially in the 123 local government areas of the six South-South states.

He explained that the Commission had changed its security approach from reactive, election-day deployments to an early, intelligence-led arrangement.

Amupitan said: “We have moved away from reactive, election-day security deployments toward a proactive, intelligence-led security architecture that we term the ‘ICCES Tentacle.’ This framework extends inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters directly down to the most remote Local Government Areas and Registration Area Centres.”

He also said the three non-negotiable pillars of the framework – mapping and mitigating threats, ensuring safety, and guaranteeing access to polling units – would provide “a comprehensive protective umbrella over all electoral personnel, technological assets including BVAS devices and server infrastructure, and most importantly, the Nigerian voter.”

Amupitan said the approach would ensure that every polling unit, “regardless of geographical remoteness or historical security challenges”, remained “a safe, peaceful, and dignified sanctuary for the exercise of democratic rights.”

He said the South-South arrangement relies on approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

He added that the network brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states of the zone.

Amupitan stressed: “Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta.”

The Chairman disclosed that South-South accounts for the fourth largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register, with Rivers State alone having 3,736,434 registered voters.

He said these figures represent “living citizens whose constitutional right to choose their leaders in a secure, transparent environment must be guaranteed without compromise.”

Reviewing the progress made so far ahead of the polls, Amupitan said the Commission had executed nine of the 14 major statutory milestones in the timetable for the 2027 General Election, which will involve over 103 million registered voters and 176,846 polling units.

On staff welfare, Amupitan disclosed that the staff were no longer on regular civil service salary structure as the commission has brought them under the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure, from January 1, 2026, and has approved a 150 per cent increase in monthly state overhead allocations, from July 1, 2026.

The post 2027: INEC talks touch, warns against attack on officials, vote disruption appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.