2027: Abdulsalami Panel Activates Situation Room, Electoral Offences Tracking System To Monitor Campaigns
The National Peace Committee, NPC, led by the former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has activated a situation room and an Electoral Offences Tracking System to monitor campaigns and curb rising political tension ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Head of Secretariat of the Committee, Fr. Atta Barkindo, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, saying the move is aimed at monitoring alleged breaches of the Peace Accord, electoral laws and other regulatory frameworks.
“We have a situation room, and we have what we call the Electoral Offences Tracking System that we use to monitor not just violations of the Accord, but also violations of the electoral law and electoral frameworks.
“We are monitoring that, whether it’s by parties, candidates, party members, party supporters, party stakeholders, party spokespersons, etc. We are documenting both the violent and the non-violent aspects,” Barkindo said.
According to him, the committee has already documented utterances made by presidential candidates at the recently concluded Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, which will be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Nigeria Police Force for appropriate action.
“We are handing over to the police and INEC. The Peace Committee does not have the constitutional authority to prosecute or to sanction. So, the police and INEC were witnesses. They signed onto the accord,” he said.
Barkindo said the committee is also pushing the National Assembly to establish an Electoral Offences Commission to prosecute electoral offenders.
“So, we are sharing that information with them, and we are doing two things. We expect that they will take action, number one, and number two, we are pushing with the National Assembly to set up the Electoral Offences Commission,” he stated.
He urged the media to support efforts to promote issue-based campaigns, citing debates on fuel subsidy removal and reopening of borders as examples of issues that should dominate discourse rather than threats and incitement.
The activation of the situation room comes amid rising tension over inciting comments attributed to some political actors, including the Borno State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Sainna Buba, Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Samuel Shekwolo, and Senator Francis Fadahunsi representing Osun East, which are currently under police investigation.
A top INEC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the commission expects compliance with campaign rules.
“INEC cannot comment on it. Those are security matters. Campaigns have started, and there are rules guiding those campaigns, so INEC expects compliance,” the official said.
