INEC Removes 1.6 Million Invalid Voter Registrations
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deleted 1,608,660 invalid registrations from the preliminary register of voters following a nationwide review of entries from the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Monday, 9 November 2026, while briefing journalists on the outcome of the review of the preliminary register of voters displayed nationwide between 9 and 15 October 2026.
The commission also removed 876 records of persons verified to be deceased. Additional screening identified more deceased records, bringing the total number of deceased persons removed to 1,749 in some reports.
Amupitan said the commission received 11,088,238 registration records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise. INEC’s Automated Biometric Identification System initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination.
The clean-up followed claims, objections and complaints submitted by members of the public after the preliminary register was displayed.
These included concerns over suspected multiple registrations, manipulated or AI-generated photographs, unusual names and registration patterns, as well as the inclusion of deceased persons.
The commission identified 54 registration officials across 10 states for possible disciplinary action, including prosecution, over their alleged involvement in the irregularities.
INEC said it would publish the cleaned-up register of voters on 16 December 2026, in accordance with the Electoral Act.
The exercise forms part of ongoing efforts to sanitise the national voter register ahead of the 2027 general elections.
By Oyinkansola Shittu.
