The International Republican Institute (IRI) has urged Nigerian electoral and security authorities to investigate and prosecute vote buying and voter inducement ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The institute also called on political parties to hold their officials, agents and supporters accountable for electoral offences, including vote buying, intimidation and violence.
IRI Regional Director for Africa, Jenai Cox, made the recommendations on Friday at a press conference in Abuja, where the institute presented findings from its pre-election assessment mission ahead of the 2027 elections.
Cox said political parties should establish clear expectations against vote buying across their structures, from national and state leadership to local and polling-unit levels.
“Political parties should hold party officials, agents, and supporters accountable for vote buying and voter inducement,” she said.
She urged parties to ensure that violations attract “sanctions, fines, and prosecution of civil and criminal offences.”
Cox also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and security agencies to investigate credible allegations of vote buying and prosecute offenders.
“INEC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and security services should prosecute voter inducement and initiate investigations into credible allegations of vote buying,” she said.
She added that authorities should make clear that “financial or material inducements are incompatible with legitimate political competition.”
The IRI regional director also urged security and law enforcement agencies to strengthen the prevention, investigation and prosecution of election-related violence and voter inducement throughout the pre-election period.
“Significant enforcement actions would help demonstrate that electoral offences, especially violence, are unacceptable at all levels,” Cox said.
She also called on political parties to train and supervise their agents on lawful conduct, ballot secrecy and results verification, stressing that parties should take responsibility for the conduct of their agents.
Cox said INEC should enforce electoral regulations and hold party agents accountable for intimidation, voter inducement and interference with election officials or voters.
She further urged political leaders and parties to avoid rhetoric that threatens opponents, incites violence or portrays electoral defeat as inherently illegitimate.
“Party leadership should publicly repudiate violence committed by supporters and sanction offenders for civil or criminal offences,” she said.
IRI President, Dr Daniel Twining, identified security as the most acute vulnerability facing Nigeria’s 2027 elections.
Twining said persistent insecurity and election-related political violence could erode confidence in the electoral process and discourage voter participation.
“Where voters, candidates, and observers cannot participate without fear of violence or intimidation, technical improvements and legal safeguards have only limited effect,” he said.
He said Nigeria’s 2027 elections would take place at a critical moment for both the country and democracy across Africa, noting that Nigeria’s political trajectory carried significance beyond its borders.
“The resilience of Nigeria’s institutions and the quality of electoral competition in Nigeria carry not only national but really regional and global implications,” Twining said.
According to him, the political landscape has changed considerably since the 2023 elections, with the ruling party consolidating political power while opposition parties continue to fragment.
He warned that the combination of political and security pressures could deepen the existing deficit of public trust in electoral institutions and the broader electoral process.
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