How DSS Uncovered a Plot Against NYSC Members and Arrested Suspects – Amupitan, INEC Chairman

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that, following intelligence from the Department of State Services (DSS), it has identified potential risks to its ad hoc staff, particularly members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The Chairman of the Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, stated this in Enugu, Enugu State, during the South East zonal interactive meeting with staff and preparedness assessment for the 2027 general elections.

According to the latest INEC bulletin, the perpetrators of the plot have been arrested and will soon be tried.

“The Commission has recently identified potential risks to its ad hoc staff, particularly members of the Youth Corps, and has taken measures to neutralize the threat…

“Thanks to intelligence from the Department of State Services (DSS), the people behind the plot have been discovered and arrested, and will soon be prosecuted,” Amupitan said.

The INEC boss added that the Commission plans to host a security conference “very soon” to address further issues related to election security.

Professor Amupitan also directed to review the records of the Commission for Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the South East and remove all obstacles to the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the area ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He said this on Tuesday in Enugu at the South East Zone interactive meeting on staffing and preparedness assessment for the 2027 general elections.

Amupitan also ordered to review the records of the Commission for Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the South East and remove any obstacles to the distribution of permanent voter cards (PVCs) in the area ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He said “the Commission’s primary operational objective in the South East is to review our local CVR registers and dismantle any bottlenecks affecting the distribution of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC)”.

The INEC President underlines that the Commission’s position on the matter is firm. “Our goal is uncompromising: no eligible citizen who has registered should be disenfranchised due to administrative or logistical friction,” he said.

He noted that the national voter register now stands at over 103 million registered citizens.

Amupitan recalled that in line with section 10 of the Election Law 2026, the Commission conducted three structured phases of the CVR exercise.

According to him, Phase I, which took place from August 25, 2025 to December 10, 2025, registered 2,611,266 voters, while Phase II, which took place between January 5, 2026 and April 17, 2026, registered 4,121,835 voters.

It added that Phase III, conducted from May 11, 2026 to July 26, 2026, registered 3,867,997 voters.

The INEC President said the figures bring the total number of new registrants to 10,772,421 citizens, subject to final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) deduplication verification at the national headquarters.

He disclosed that in the third phase, the Commission introduced, for the first time in Nigeria, the online registration portal, a technology designed “to eliminate the barriers of distance and time”.

The INEC Chairman further said that the Commission has activated printable PVC technology in line with section 18(1) of the Electoral Law 2026, adding that the innovation ensures that “waiting for months to collect your voter card becomes a relic of the past.”

The Enugu engagement, which is the third of the Commission’s nationwide preparedness assessment tour, followed the south-western edition in Lagos on 7 September 2026 and the north-western edition in Kaduna on 28 September 2026.

According to him, the visit was significant because no INEC chairman had visited the Enugu office since 1999.

He said that for over two decades zonal preparations of this scale have been coordinated through delegated structures or managed at the level of National Commissioners and Central Directorates.

“Today, as we bring our national tour to the Southeast, we continue to break that tradition of remote governance,” he said.

The INEC president explained that he was in Enugu in person, because “the true success of any election is not decided exclusively in the meeting rooms of our headquarters in Abuja, but is decided on the ground”.

He said the outcome of the elections is determined in the 95 local government areas of the South East, Registration Centers (RACs) and polling units by election officials, heads of departments, technical managers and administrative staff.

Amupitan told participants that he came to Enugu “to meet with you directly, listen to your operational realities and align our steps as we move forward in our collective march towards the 2027 general elections.”

He reminded officials that the 2027 general election would be “a simultaneous nationwide poll in 36 states and the federal capital territory, involving more than 103 million registered voters and 176,846 polling units.”

The INEC President noted that the Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for Saturday, January 16, 2027, while the elections for the Governorship and state Houses of Assembly will be held on Saturday, February 6, 2027.

“The legal timeline is fixed and time is running out,” he said.