Daud Olatunji
The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that Nigeria’s National Register of Voters has risen above 103 million ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while speaking at a strategic workshop for media executives organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in partnership with the electoral commission.
Amupitan said the latest figure followed the conclusion of the three-phase Continuous Voter Registration exercise and a subsequent biometric clean-up of the voter register.
According to him, 10,772,421 new registrants were captured during the exercise.
He said 2,611,266 people registered during the first phase, while 4,121,835 and 3,867,997 were recorded in the second and third phases respectively.
The INEC chairman, however, said the figures remained subject to final verification through the commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System.
“Following the conclusion of our three-phase Continuous Voter Registration exercise, which captured over 10.6 million new applicants, our Voter Register Department has completed the final Automated Biometric Identification System cleanup. Nigeria’s National Register of Voters is now over 103 million,” Amupitan said.
He said the commission had completed eight of the 14 major activities contained in its timetable for the 2027 elections, adding that preparations had entered the “amber zone” as the polls draw closer.
Amupitan announced that the preliminary display of the voters’ register for claims and objections would commence nationwide on October 9 and end on October 15.
He also said nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards would begin on October 9, with newly produced PVCs to be distributed through Local Government Area collection centres.
To ease the challenges associated with PVC collection and replacement, the commission, he said, had introduced printable PVC technology.
According to him, the technology would reduce the waiting time for voters and make it easier for registered voters whose cards were lost or stolen to obtain replacements.
The commission is also strengthening its technological infrastructure ahead of the elections, with the acquisition of 57,000 additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines.
Amupitan said INEC had opted to upgrade existing electoral technologies rather than introduce untested systems shortly before the 2027 elections.
He disclosed that improvements had also been made to the electronic results management system, while an enhanced eEC8A form had been introduced to digitise and authenticate polling-unit results before their upload to the INEC Result Viewing portal.
The commission, he added, was deploying artificial intelligence to detect unusual activities within its database and strengthen cybersecurity.
On campaign financing and vote-buying, Amupitan said INEC was collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to monitor campaign expenditure and detect suspicious financial transactions.
He warned politicians, political parties and their agents against violating the Electoral Act, stressing that offenders would face arrest and prosecution.
“Elections must be decided by the conviction of the voter, not the depth of a candidate’s pocket,” the INEC chairman declared.
Amupitan also expressed concern over the growing use of misinformation, disinformation and manipulated digital content to influence elections.
He described malicious disinformation on social media as “citizenship terrorism through social media,” urging journalists and editors to subject election-related information to rigorous verification before publication.
He specifically identified deepfakes, manipulated audio and video materials, coordinated fake news and premature declaration of unofficial election results as threats capable of undermining public confidence in the electoral process.
The INEC chairman warned that false reports could discourage voters, trigger panic and damage the credibility of the 2027 elections.
He urged the media to play a central role in combating the spread of false information, particularly during the election period.
On election security, Amupitan said INEC’s early-warning mechanism under the Inter-Consultative Committee on Election Security was monitoring political violence, thuggery and inflammatory statements ahead of the polls.
He disclosed that readiness audits had already been conducted in the South-West and North-West, while similar assessments would be carried out in other geopolitical zones.
Earlier, the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba, called for electoral reforms and processes that would ensure that voters, rather than courts, determine the winners of elections.
Anaba said Nigeria needed a credible and resilient electoral system capable of accurately reflecting voters’ choices and reducing the growing dependence on post-election litigation.
He urged stakeholders, particularly electoral authorities, political parties, security agencies and the media, to work towards delivering elections whose outcomes would command public confidence.
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