INEC Denies Electoral Act Violation Over Voters’ Register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied violating the Electoral Act 2026 over allegations that it failed to publish the preliminary voters’ register online for public scrutiny during the statutory seven-day period.

The Commission said it complied with the law by displaying the register across wards and local government areas nationwide.

Speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP on Wednesday, an official of the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja said INEC had not violated the law.

“The Commission has not broken the law. We complied with the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act by displaying the voters’ register across wards and local government areas in the country,” the official said.

The controversy followed allegations that the detailed preliminary voters’ register was unavailable online during the scheduled display period of October 9 to 15, 2026.

Some sections of the media have reported difficulties accessing the register on INEC’s online portal, raising questions about whether voters had the opportunity to scrutinise their details within the stipulated period.

Other reports questioned access to the register in parts of Lagos State.

However, INEC’s Lagos office disputed the claims, insisting that the exercise was conducted across all 245 registration areas in the state.

The online portal reportedly displayed the message: “There are currently no preliminary Registers to display. Please check back later.” The message was also reported to have remained on the portal as of October 20.

Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026 provides:

“Subject to the provisions of section 9 (6) of this Act, the Commission shall, not later than 90 days to a general election, appoint a period of seven days during which a copy of the voters’ register for each Local Government, Area Council or Ward shall be displayed or published for public scrutiny at every registration area or on its official website or any website established by the Commission for that purpose.”

The unavailability of the register online has also raised questions about the detailed records behind INEC’s announcement that Nigeria had 103,428,715 registered voters ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Lagos State accounted for approximately 7.49 million registered voters, followed by Kano and Kaduna states.