The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has discovered deliberate manipulation of voter registration procedures in 10 states, leading to the indictment of 54 officials. According to INEC Chair Joash Amupitan, the commission uncovered irregularities in the voter registration process, with 54 officials believed to be complicit. Disciplinary action, including possible prosecution, will be taken against the personnel involved. The states where the irregularities occurred were not specified.
The commission has removed 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registration records and 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons from the voters' register. This followed complaints from Nigerians about the preliminary register displayed ahead of the elections. Investigations revealed that some registration personnel deliberately circumvented established procedures and abused provisions designed to accommodate exceptional registration circumstances.
The affected records were identified and subjected to verification and remediation, while the personnel allegedly involved were identified for further administrative investigation. Amupitan stated that the commission would take necessary disciplinary measures against the 54 persons identified across the 10 states, including possible prosecution, to deter future manipulation of the registration process.
INEC has directed its ICT Department to develop a specialised app for photo capturing in future. The commission has also decided to extend its scrutiny to historical voter registration records dating from 2011 to 2023, following concerns that questionable entries from previous registrations could remain in the register ahead of the elections.
The commission will remove duplicate and other obviously irregular records from the historical register, particularly those already flagged through public complaints, after proper verification. Amupitan noted that the controversy surrounding the preliminary register had exposed longstanding integrity challenges arising from successive registrations conducted under different technologies, operational arrangements, and quality-control standards.
Out of 11,088,238 registration records from the 2025/2026 CVR, the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination. Amupitan explained that being flagged by the automated system did not automatically make a registration invalid, as each case was subjected to authorised adjudication before a decision was reached.
Most duplicated names and pictures circulated on social media in recent weeks related to registrations conducted between 2011 and 2023 rather than the latest registration. Amupitan warned that cleaning up the records generated during the 2025/2026 CVR alone will not resolve all the integrity concerns surrounding the national register, stressing that a separate verification and system clean-up of historical records is necessary.
Key points
- 54 INEC officials indicted for voter registration fraud in 10 states
- 1,608,660 invalid voter registration records removed
- INEC to develop specialised app for photo capturing in future registrations
Reporting sources
- INEC: voter registration fraud found in 10 states · The Nation
