Ahead of the 2027 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has warned that politicians and political parties who employ abusive, intemperate or inflammatory languages in their campaigns risk heavy financial penalties and possible imprisonment under the Electoral Act 2026, as the country grapples with a fresh wave of threats by political office holders against dissenting voters.

Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Mr Adedayo Oketola,  in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, said campaign rhetoric crosses the legal threshold into electoral intimidation the moment it moves beyond robust partisan debate or policy critique and enters the realm of coercion, hate speech, or the threat of harm.

“Under the Nigerian legal framework, rhetoric becomes punishable intimidation when it incites ethnic, religious, or regional hostility through abusive, base, or slanderous language explicitly designed to provoke violent emotions or target specific groups,” Oketola said, citing Section 96 of the Electoral Act 2026.

Quoting the law directly, Oketola said; “A political campaign or slogan shall not be tainted with abusive language directly or indirectly likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings.”

He added that the law further provides that “abusive, intemperate, slanderous or base language, insinuations, innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent reaction or emotions shall not be employed or used in political campaigns.”

According to him, campaign rhetoric transitions into outright intimidation when it threatens force or violence, whether by directly or indirectly warning voters, candidates, or electoral officials of physical harm, economic reprisal, or social ostracisation to compel or suppress support for a candidate. He stressed that political campaigns must also not create an atmosphere of fear calculated to deter voter turnout or disenfranchise specific demographics.

On what INEC can actually do about the trend, Oketola clarified that the Commission is an election management body and not a security agency, but explained that Section 95 of the Electoral Act 2026 explicitly prescribes the security architecture for political rallies in relation to the operational roles of the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC, and other security institutions.

“Beyond inter-agency security coordination, INEC is statutorily empowered to monitor political campaigns and enforce compliance with the Code of Conduct for Political Parties. The Commission can issue formal queries and sanction non-compliant parties within its administrative limits,” he said.

Oketola disclosed that to enforce deterrence, Section 96(7) of the Electoral Act 2026 prescribes severe statutory penalties for offenders. “Any candidate who commits these offences is liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of ₦5,000,000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months,” he said.