The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed more than 1.6 million invalid registration records from its preliminary voters’ register ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The commission also disclosed that 873 records belonging to verified deceased voters had been expunged, while 54 individuals across 10 states had been identified for their alleged involvement in registration irregularities.
INEC warned that those found culpable would face disciplinary action, including possible prosecution.
The commission’s chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Monday during a press conference in Abuja on the display and publication of the preliminary voters’ register.
He said the clean-up followed complaints, claims and objections submitted by members of the public after the preliminary register was displayed nationwide between 9 and 15 October 2026.
Amupitan said the commission had concluded the clean-up of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) records, with final reconciliation, quality assurance and publication checks ongoing ahead of the release of the final register on 15 December 2026.
According to him, 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations had been removed, alongside 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons.
The chairman said the exercise was necessary following public concerns over suspected duplicate registrations, artificial or manipulated photographs, unusual names and registration patterns, as well as the presence of deceased persons on the voters’ register.
He noted that some members of the public had alleged that the irregularities were deliberately introduced to undermine the credibility of the 2027 elections.
Amupitan explained that INEC waited until the expiration of the statutory 14-day period for complaints before presenting its findings.
He said the commission considered the objections in line with Section 19(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, which requires it to receive and investigate complaints against the preliminary voters’ register within 14 days of its display.
Giving a breakdown of the exercise, Amupitan said INEC collected 11,088,238 registration records across the three phases of the 2025/2026 CVR exercise.
The records were screened using the Automated Biometric Identification System, which initially flagged 1,545,052 registrations for further examination.
However, he stressed that being flagged by the system did not automatically mean a registration was invalid, explaining that the technology only identified records requiring further investigation before authorised officials made a final determination.
Before the publication of the preliminary register, the commission had confirmed 1,277,052 registrations as invalid and excluded them from the register.
Following the public display and receipt of complaints, another 268,000 cases were subjected to adjudication.
Of these, 217,722 registrations were confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared and retained as valid records.
INEC subsequently carried out additional screening, which identified another 113,886 invalid registrations that were also expunged.
Amupitan said the additional removals following public objections and subsequent screening brought the number of invalid registrations removed after the initial publication exercise to 331,608.
When added to the 1,277,052 invalid records identified before the preliminary register was published, the total number of invalid registrations removed stood at 1,608,660.
The separate removal of 873 deceased voters’ records brought the combined figure to 1,609,533 based on the individual figures provided by the commission.
The chairman said the clean-up had been concluded, adding that INEC was working towards ensuring that the final register was accurate and credible ahead of the 2027 general elections.
