No More System Glitches: Bode George Warns New INEC Boss

As the road to the 2027 general elections begins to take shape, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and elder statesman, Chief Bode George, has sent a stern warning to the newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan. Appearing on Channels Television’s “Politics Today,” George made it clear that Nigerians are no longer in the mood for technical excuses, specifically the infamous “glitches” that marred the 2023 electoral cycle.

Professor Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who was sworn in last October to succeed Professor Mahmood Yakubu, finds himself in the crosshairs of public expectation even before his first major national assignment. George, a vocal critic of the previous commission’s management, urged the new chairman to learn from the “intentional mistakes” of his predecessor. He argued that the trust of the Nigerian voter was deeply wounded by the failure to upload results in real-time during the last presidential poll.

“Remember the last election, when the tools were bought and the necessary technology was in place,” George remarked during the interview. “What did they tell us? They said there was a glitch. We are saying now, Mr. Amupitan, there should be no glitch in this system.” The PDP leader insisted that the technological failures of 2023 were seen by many as a deliberate attempt to subvert the will of the people, a narrative he believes the new leadership must work tirelessly to erase.

The elder statesman’s comments reflect a broader anxiety within the opposition camp as the 2027 cycle approaches. For George, the appointment of a legal scholar like Amupitan provides an opportunity for a fresh start, but he warned that the honeymoon period will be short. He emphasized that the billions of Naira invested in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) must yield transparent results this time around, with no room for server failures or “technical hitches.”

Beyond the technology, George’s message touched on the moral weight of the office. He reminded the INEC Chairman that the stability of the country rests on the credibility of the ballot box. He argued that when the electoral body provides “stories” instead of results, it invites chaos and erodes the foundations of democracy. The warning serves as a preemptive strike against any future justification for a lack of transparency in the vote-counting process.

With the 2025 Anambra governorship election serving as the first litmus test for Amupitan’s leadership, the pressure is already mounting. George’s public demand for a “glitch-free” 2027 is a signal that the opposition intends to hold the commission to a much higher standard of accountability. For the new INEC boss, the message from the PDP chieftain is unmistakable: the era of excuses is over, and only a seamless, verifiable process will be accepted by the Nigerian electorate.