INEC To Sanction 54 Officials Over Voter Register Manipulation

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has identified 54 registration personnel across 10 states for disciplinary action, including possible prosecution, over irregularities uncovered in the voters register ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The commission also disclosed that it had removed 1,608,660 invalid voter registration records and 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons following a comprehensive review of the Preliminary Register of Voters.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Monday at a press conference in Abuja on the outcome of the cleaning exercise conducted after the display of the preliminary register between October 9 and 15, 2026.

Amupitan said the irregularities included suspected multiple registrations, manipulated or substituted photographs, unusual registration patterns and deliberate circumvention of established registration procedures by some personnel.

He said the commission’s technical assessment revealed that some registration officials abused provisions designed to accommodate exceptional registration circumstances, including those relating to persons with disabilities.

According to him, the affected records had been identified and subjected to appropriate verification and remediation processes, while the personnel implicated had been identified for further administrative investigation.

He said the commission would take necessary disciplinary measures against the 54 officials, including possible prosecution, adding that INEC was strengthening its registration controls through enhanced biometric capture, authentication and verification safeguards to prevent a recurrence.

Giving a breakdown of the cleaning exercise, the chairman said INEC harvested 11,088,238 registration records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.

Out of this figure, he said, the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination.

He, however, clarified that being flagged by the automated system did not automatically invalidate a registration, as each case had to undergo further examination and authorised adjudication.

Amupitan said 1,277,052 registrations were confirmed invalid and excluded before the publication of the Preliminary Register.

He explained that following complaints, claims and objections received during the public display, another 268,000 cases were subjected to adjudication.

Of the figure, 217,722 registrations were confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared as valid and retained in the register.

The chairman added that subsequent screening identified another 113,886 invalid registrations, bringing the number of additional invalid records removed following the public objections and review to 331,608.

When added to the 1,277,052 registrations earlier excluded, the total number of invalid registrations removed stood at 1,608,660.

The commission also removed 873 records belonging to verified deceased voters, bringing the total number of records removed under the two categories to 1,609,553.

Amupitan said the current cleaning exercise covering the 2025/2026 CVR had been concluded, with final reconciliation, quality assurance and publication checks ongoing ahead of the release of the Final Register on December 15, 2026.

However, the INEC chairman warned that addressing irregularities associated with the latest registration exercise alone would not resolve all the integrity concerns surrounding the national voters register.

He said a significant number of the multiple registrations and duplicated photographs circulated on social media originated from historical registration exercises conducted between 2011 and 2023.

According to him, the commission had identified the need to address the historical records separately, noting that the removal of irregular entries from the latest CVR would not automatically eliminate duplications inherited from previous registration exercises.

Amupitan disclosed that the commission, at its meeting on Monday, November 9, 2026, resolved to address the historical irregularities and directed that cases already flagged through public complaints, as well as obvious cases identified in the register, should be removed after proper verification.

The chairman recalled that INEC had announced plans in February 2026 for a nationwide voter revalidation exercise aimed at improving the accuracy, quality and reliability of the register, particularly records captured with older generations of registration technology.

He said the exercise was, however, postponed following concerns expressed by stakeholders over its proximity to the 2027 general elections and the possibility of affecting the participation of eligible voters.

He stressed that the postponement did not mean that the commission had suspended its existing mechanisms for maintaining the integrity of the register, as biometric screening, adjudication and statutory claims and objections remained in place.

On complaints by some voters that their names were missing from the preliminary register, Amupitan said investigations showed that most of the affected persons had registered between 2011 and 2023 but subsequently registered again instead of transferring their voter registration to their new locations.

He explained that the subsequent registrations were invalidated by the biometric screening system, while their original registrations remained in their previous locations.

He therefore advised affected voters to check the register at their former locations to establish the status of their registration.

On the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), the INEC chairman said distribution of cards from the first and second phases, including transferred PVCs, was ongoing at various local government areas across the country.

He said some cards from the third and final phase were being delivered and would be dispatched to states from next week.

According to him, distribution would return to Registration Areas nationwide from December 1, 2026, while appealing to voters who participated in the third phase to exercise patience because production of the cards was being handled outside the country.

Amupitan also assured Nigerians that the commission remained committed to removing confirmed invalid entries without wrongfully excluding eligible voters from the electoral process.

He said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), alongside established election-day procedures, would provide additional safeguards against multiple accreditation and voting during the 2027 general elections.

He explained that voters would be required to appear physically at their designated polling units for biometric authentication through fingerprints or facial recognition, with the system designed to prevent multiple accreditation.

The INEC chairman said the commission would continue to communicate verifiable outcomes of the cleaning exercise while protecting personal information and the integrity of ongoing investigations.