INEC Reads Riot Act to Foul-Mouthed Politicians Ahead of 2027, Warns of N10m Fine and 12 Months Behind Bars

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has issued a stern warning to political parties and their candidates, declaring that foul language, hate speech, and violent threats during campaign rallies will be met with heavy financial penalties and prison sentences.

The warning comes on the heels of a troubling surge in hostile rhetoric across the country, where several high-ranking political officeholders and party figures have been captured openly threatening opponents, dissenting communities, and everyday voters with eviction or physical harm ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Speaking on the commission’s stance, Adedayo Oketola, Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the INEC Chairman, warned that the electoral umpire will strictly enforce statutory boundaries against intemperate campaign conduct. He explained that while the constitution guarantees robust political debate and freedom of expression, that freedom stops the moment campaign statements cross the legal line into criminal intimidation and ethnic or sectarian incitement.

Citing provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, Oketola stated that the law categorically prohibits campaigns or slogans tainted with abusive, slanderous, or base language calculated to injure tribal, religious, or sectional sentiments, or deliberately crafted to incite violent emotions. He explained that rhetoric becomes criminal coercion whenever candidates or party agents warn voters of physical assault, destruction of property, social ostracism, or economic reprisal simply for exercising their constitutional right to choose.

Laying out the statutory penalties awaiting defaulters, the commission noted that any candidate found guilty of campaign-related intimidation or hate speech is liable upon conviction to a fine of up to ₦5 million, a 12-month jail term, or both. Political parties that tolerate or endorse violent rhetoric from their platforms face even steeper punishments, with the law prescribing a mandatory ₦10 million fine for a first offense and an additional ₦2 million fine for every subsequent breach.

The commission stressed that election contests should be markets of competing developmental ideas rather than theatres of war. INEC cautioned that attempting to suppress voter turnout through fear-mongering strikes at the heart of democratic legitimacy, assuring that administrative measures and code-of-conduct sanctions will be deployed against erring political platforms.

Acknowledging that the commission relies on inter-agency collaboration to enforce criminal provisions, Oketola urged the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to step in decisively and investigate candidates who issue reckless threats. He also appealed to traditional institutions, religious authorities, and the media to serve as uncompromising watchdogs by identifying and calling out politicians attempting to drag the nation into pre-election chaos.