INEC removes 1.27m invalid voter registrations ahead of 2027 elections
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has removed more than 1.27 million invalid voter registrations from the National Register of Voters following a technology-driven verification exercise ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The commission said about 1.5 million questionable registrations were identified during the exercise as part of efforts to sanitise the voter register and strengthen the credibility of the forthcoming elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Wednesday during separate meetings with the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simão, and the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Pete Vowles, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Amupitan said the National Register of Voters currently contains more than 103 million registered voters, with Nigerians aged between 18 and 34 accounting for nearly 29 per cent.
He said the commission was conducting a claims and objections exercise to enable eligible Nigerians scrutinise the register before the final version is published on December 15.
Providing an update on preparations for the elections, the INEC chairman said nine of the 14 activities on the revised timetable had been completed, while operational readiness assessments were ongoing across the six geopolitical zones.
He added that the collection of Permanent Voter Cards was continuing in all 774 local government areas, with collection points decentralised to registration area and ward levels.
According to him, INEC has deployed its Candidates Nomination Portal, which processed nominations from 21 of the 22 registered political parties.
