INEC deletes 1.6 million invalid voter registrations ahead of 2027 polls

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has purged its preliminary voters’ roll, removing 1,608,660 invalid registrations following a nationwide review of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

Addressing journalists on Monday, the INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed that an additional 1,749 records belonging to verified deceased persons were struck from the database. He explained that out of the 11,088,238 registration records received across three CVR phases, the commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System initially flagged 1,545,052 entries for scrutiny.

Before the preliminary register was published, 1,277,052 registrations were already confirmed invalid and excluded. However, following a statutory nationwide display exercise between October 9 and 15, public petitions prompted the commission to subject another 268,000 suspicious cases to adjudication.

This subsequent review saw 217,722 entries confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared as valid. Another screening identified an extra 113,886 fraudulent records, bringing the total number of invalid registrations removed after the public display to 331,608.

Professor Amupitan addressed the public concerns over irregularities, which included suspected artificial intelligence-generated photographs and duplicate entries circulated on social media. He acknowledged that internal investigations uncovered deliberate circumventions of established protocols by INEC personnel, particularly the abuse of registration provisions meant for persons with disabilities.

“Fifty-four persons across ten states have been identified as complicit, and necessary disciplinary action will be taken against them, including possible prosecution.”

Amupitan explained that the current National Register of Voters contains biometric and demographic data captured under varying technologies and standards since 2011, making the database prone to previous data flaws.

“Although the register has undergone cleansing and biometric comparison at different points, significant historical integrity questions remain since 2011 and require a national, systematic response”.

The commission admitted that the recent clean-up has not completely resolved the integrity concerns predating the latest registration cycle, but assured Nigerians that the final cleaned-up register will be published in December.