INEC has outlined an election security plan intended to identify threats before polling and protect voters, electoral staff and materials. Chairman Joash Amupitan presented the approach at a North-East readiness meeting in Gombe on Tuesday, 27 October.
The framework, called ICCES Tentacle, would extend coordination between security agencies beyond national and state headquarters. It would reach local government areas and Registration Area Centres. It operates through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security. Members include the police, civil defence corps, Department of State Services, Armed Forces and other agencies.
Amupitan said the commission was adopting an intelligence-led approach rather than relying on deployments made only around election day. The Sun's correspondent at the Gombe meeting reported that he warned against threats to temporary election workers, National Youth Service Corps members and permanent INEC personnel.
The plan has three stated pillars: Map and Mitigate, Ensure Safety and Guarantee Access. Electoral Risk Management tools would be used to identify security flashpoints, seasonal threats and local vulnerabilities early enough for preventive action.
Protection would cover voters and election personnel, alongside technological assets such as Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices and servers. The access element is intended to keep polling locations safe and reachable, including in remote communities and places with a history of security difficulties.
The Gombe engagement forms part of INEC's regional assessment of operational preparedness. It brought together National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners and other senior officials to examine capacity and identify gaps.
The regional engagement covers the election offices in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe, the six states that make up Nigeria's North-East.
Amupitan also urged staff to remain neutral, professional and disciplined. BusinessDay reported that the regional assessment began in Lagos in September, before moving through Kaduna and Enugu to the North-East.
“The true integrity of an election is not determined in the air-conditioned conference rooms of Abuja; it is forged in the field,” he said, according to BusinessDay's report of the meeting.
INEC already has a separate Security Alerts and Notification System, known as INEC-SANS. A commission briefing describes a web and mobile platform developed in March 2021 and first piloted during that year's Anambra governorship election.
The briefing says the system can send alerts through push notifications, text messages, email and voice calls. Its objectives include warning security responders of threats, coordinating assistance between field staff and response teams, and producing incident reports for the commission's decisions.
In the same document, INEC records earlier deployments in Anambra, Ekiti, Osun, Plateau and other states. It describes staff using emergency alerts to seek help during attacks, attempted ballot-box theft and a disorderly collation process. Those accounts concern earlier elections, rather than results of the newly outlined framework.
Amupitan said INEC planned to convene a National Election Security Conference in Abuja to finalise state-specific protocols for areas considered at high risk. The proposed conference and preventive measures remain preparations for the 2027 elections, with the Gombe meeting also assessing the personnel and operational arrangements needed to carry them out.
Archival institutional photograph: INEC headquarters, Abuja, 20 February 2019. Kaizenify / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. This does not show the Gombe meeting or a current deployment.
