Shrinking Civic Space, Electoral Crime Impunity Threaten 2027 Elections, NHRC Warns

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has warned that shrinking civic space and impunity for electoral crimes will threaten the 2027 elections, urging authorities to act before the polls.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Anthony Ojukwu, was speaking at the 2026 Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders Forum on the State of Human Rights in Abuja, convened by the Commission with support from the European Union.

The forum, themed “Protecting Human Rights in Civic and Political Spaces in the 2027 Elections,” comes 66 days before the presidential and National Assembly elections on 16 January 2027, with governorship and State Houses of Assembly polls to follow on 6 February 2027.

The executive secretary cited harassment, arbitrary arrests, and the misapplication of laws, including provisions of the Cybercrimes Act, against civil society organisations, journalists and human rights defenders.

He also flagged political and voter intimidation, exclusion by prohibitive nomination fees that shut out women, youth and persons with disabilities, hate speech and incitement, and regulatory uncertainties around digital platforms.

He pointed to the Commission’s September 2026 Human Rights Situation Dashboard, which recorded 338,810 complaints of human rights violations across its 38 offices nationwide, with the North Central zone recording the highest number.

In the same period, he said the Human Rights Observatory documented 208 killings and 210 kidnappings, alongside deaths in custody and violence against children.

Also, he said the Commission completed 2,458 investigations and undertook 113 monitoring visits to police stations, correctional centres and other places of detention.

On other interventions by the National Human Rights Commission, he said the Human Rights Election Situation Room will move to 24/7 operations through the election window, with monthly dashboards and bulletins, monitors deployed to hotspots, and legal aid partnerships on standby.

Meanwhile, the commission also welcomed the recent passage of the NHRC Amendment Bill, which incorporates the Human Rights Defenders Bill, and renewed calls for a dedicated Electoral Offences Commission.

Other officials at the meeting include the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, the representative of the INEC Chairman, and the Inter-Party Advisory Council.