INEC identifies 54 staff over voter registration fraud, removes 1.6m records

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has identified 54 staff members across 10 states for alleged complicity in voter registration irregularities, following a clean-up exercise that led to the removal of 1,609,553 records from the national register of voters.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Monday at a press conference on the display and publication of the Preliminary Register of Voters held at the Commission’s headquarters.

Amupitan said the removed records comprised 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations and 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons. He explained that the Commission harvested 11,088,238 records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, while its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination.

He cautioned that being flagged by the automated system did not automatically mean a registration was invalid, stressing that each case required proper review and adjudication before a decision could be reached.

The INEC chairman said 1,277,052 registrations were initially confirmed invalid and excluded before the publication of the Preliminary Register. Following complaints, claims and objections received during the display exercise, another 268,000 cases were subjected to adjudication, with 217,722 confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared and retained. Further screening identified 113,886 additional invalid registrations.

“The commission confirms that the current register-cleaning exercise for the 2025/2026 Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) has been concluded,” Amupitan said.

He said a technical assessment uncovered suspected multiple registrations, unusual registration patterns, substituted photographs and manipulation of registration transactions, adding that some registration personnel deliberately circumvented established procedures and misused provisions meant for exceptional registration circumstances, including those involving persons with disabilities.

Amupitan disclosed that the 54 persons identified across 10 states would face disciplinary action, including possible prosecution. He added that the Commission was strengthening its registration procedures through enhanced biometric capture, authentication and verification safeguards.