By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu
As Nigeria prepares for the 2027 general elections, The Patriots, a group of distinguished elder statesmen, are calling for significant electoral reforms to ensure transparency, fairness, and cost-efficiency in the election process. A central demand is that all national elections be conducted on the same day.
This proposal was put forward at the National Summit on the Future of Nigeria’s Constitutional Democracy, held in Abuja from July 16-17, 2025. The summit was chaired by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, and organized by The Patriots in collaboration with the Nigerian Political Summit Group (NPSG).
The communique issued at the end of the summit highlighted the importance of free and fair elections as the foundation of democracy. However, it expressed concern over Nigeria’s current electoral system, which is seen as costly, vulnerable to fraud, and disconnected from the electorate. To address these issues, the summit advocates for conducting all elections on a single day, citing the successful models of Brazil and Ghana.
In addition to this, The Patriots are pushing for amendments to the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution to make the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic result transmission mandatory.
They also called for a constitutional shift that would restore Nigeria’s federal structure, granting more autonomy to the states, similar to the system in place during the First Republic. Furthermore, the summit criticized the current presidential system, describing it as too expensive, prone to abuse, and a major obstacle to the country’s democratic future.
