By Emmanuel Oloniruha

The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought and TAP Initiative have launched a nationwide capacity-building programme to promote transparency and public confidence in the 2027 general elections.

The Director of the Abuja School, Dr Sam Amadi, and the Executive Director of TAP Initiative for Citizens’ Development, Mr Martin Obono, announced this at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

Amadi said the initiative, tagged “i-Report-INEC”, would train civil society organisations (CSOs), political parties and their agents, media practitioners and support groups to monitor elections and report incidents in real time.

He said the programme was important given plans by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy advanced technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), during the 2027 polls.

Citing democratic setbacks in parts of West Africa, Amadi said declining public trust in electoral management could undermine democracy.

“The best way to protect an election is to assume that elections will not be free and fair, and to work to make them free and fair.

“Our concern is to get the electoral system right, not just about who wins. For us, ensuring that the 2027 election ends with a vote of confidence in the electoral system is the ultimate focus,” Amadi said.

He said the organisers would engage political parties and their agents on lawful ways to protect votes and promote credible elections.

Amadi disclosed that training sessions had been completed in Plateau and Niger, with plans to extend the exercise to 12 states across the six geopolitical zones.

“Each session would involve about 40 participants from CSOs, the media, political parties and support groups”.

He listed Enugu and Owerri among the planned locations in the South-East, Port Harcourt and Benin in the South-South, and Lagos and Osun in the South-West.

“After completing the capacity building in these 12 states, we will review the exercise,” Amadi said.

He said the initiative was not intended to confront INEC but formed part of the Abuja School’s “Deepening Democracy Series”, launched in 2022 to strengthen democratic governance.

“The idea is that we should not give up on electoral democracy. If we must sustain development and democracy, we have to invest more in the quality of elections, ensuring they are free and fair,” he added.

On the national voter register, Amadi expressed concern over INEC’s failure to display it on Monday, as required by law.

He urged political parties to engage competent legal practitioners who understood the electoral system and could work constructively with INEC.

“The whole idea of legal representation for parties is not just after votes or going to court. It is about using lawyers who understand the electoral system to engage INEC transparently based on its statutory mandate,” Amadi stated.

Obono said the i-Report-INEC application would enable citizens, party agents and election observers to upload polling-unit results and report incidents in real time.

“The outcome of an election is not as important as the credibility of the process. This partnership creates a mirror for the entire election management process, especially regarding results,” Obono said.

Addressing concerns about real-time result transmission, he clarified that the application would not declare election winners but make Form EC8A results already announced at polling units accessible to the public.

“We are not declaring winners; we are making results already announced at polling units accessible to the entire world to see,” he said.

Obono cited previous deployments during off-cycle elections in Osun, where the platform provided real-time data and incident tracking during delays in the transmission of results on INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

He urged Nigerians planning to participate in the 2027 elections to download and familiarise themselves with the application ahead of the polls. (NAN)