•54 indicted officials for probe

Fifty-Four officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) linked to the manipulation of the voter registration are to face the law, Commission Chair Joash Amupitan has said.

Prof. Amupitan announced yesterday that the electoral umpire uncovered “deliberate manipulation of the voter registration procedures”.

He said the irregularities were traced to 54 officials of the agency now believed to be complicit. They are spread across 10 states.

But the states were not listed.

At a news conference last night (Monday, November 9, 2026), Amupitan said disciplinary action would be taken against the personnel, including possible prosecution in accordance with the provisions of the law.

He also hinted at possible prosecution of voters found to have been involved in double registration.

1.6m invalid registrations, records deleted

Amupitan said the commission had so far removed 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registration records and 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons from the voters’ register, following complaints from Nigerians.

He said the commission carried out an extensive cleansing triggered by complaints over the preliminary register displayed ahead of the elections.

According to him, investigations revealed that some registration personnel deliberately circumvented established procedures and abused provisions designed to accommodate exceptional registration circumstances, including registration for Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWDs).

He said the affected records had been identified and subjected to verification and remediation, while the personnel allegedly involved had been identified for further administrative investigation.

The chairman said the commission would take necessary disciplinary measures against the 54 persons identified across the 10 states, including possible prosecution, to deter future manipulation of the registration process.

He said further that the commission has directed the ICT Department to develop a specialised app that will be used for photo capturing in future.

Amupitan announced that INEC has decided to extend its scrutiny to historical voter registration records dating from 2011 to 2023, following concerns that questionable entries from previous registrations could remain in the register ahead of the elections.

He said the commission, at yesterday’s meeting, directed that duplicate and other obviously irregular records from the historical register, particularly those already flagged through public complaints, should be removed after proper verification.

Amupitan said the controversy surrounding the preliminary register had exposed longstanding integrity challenges arising from successive registrations conducted under different technologies, operational arrangements and quality-control standards.

He explained that the current National Register of Voters was built through successive registration and continuous voter registration since 2011, adding that although INEC had undertaken biometric comparisons and other cleansing procedures over the years, significant historical integrity questions remained.

Amupitan disclosed that out of the 11,088,238 registration records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 CVR, the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination.

He explained, however, that being flagged by the automated system did not automatically make a registration invalid, as each case was subjected to authorised adjudication before a decision was reached.

According to him, 1,277,052 registrations were confirmed invalid and excluded before the publication of the preliminary voters’ register, adding that following the display of the register at polling wards between October 9 and 15, 2026, and its subsequent online publication, the commission received additional complaints, claims and objections from members of the public.

Amupitan maintained that a further 268,000 cases were subjected to adjudication following complaints, out of which 217,722 were confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared as valid registrations and retained in the register.

He said an additional 331,608 invalid records were identified after the public display, and when added to the 1,277,052 previously excluded, brought the total number of confirmed invalid registrations removed to 1,608,660.

Amupitan warned that cleaning up the records generated during the 2025/2026 Continued Voter Registration (CVR) alone will not resolve all the integrity concerns surrounding the national register, stressing that most of the duplicate names and photographs circulated on social media in recent weeks related to registrations conducted between 2011 and 2023 rather than the latest registration.

He said the commission’s investigation showed that some of the complaints about multiple registrations originated from the historical database, making it necessary to undertake a separate verification and system clean-up.

The chairman also explained that some voters who complained about the omission of their names from the preliminary register might have inadvertently contributed to the problem by registering afresh after relocating, instead of applying for a transfer of their registration.

He said the commission discovered that many of the affected persons had registered between 2011 and 2023 and subsequently attempted new registrations after moving to other locations, while the ABIS screening system voided their subsequent registrations, leaving their original records at their previous polling locations.

The chairman recalled that INEC had announced plans in February to conduct a nationwide voter revalidation as part of efforts to improve the accuracy and reliability of the register, particularly in respect of historical records captured with older registration technologies.

He said the procedure was intended to provide an opportunity for voters to update their biometric information, resolve registration inconsistencies and improve accreditation on election day.

Amupitan said that following concerns by stakeholders about the proximity of the review to the 2027 general election and the possibility of disenfranchising eligible voters, INEC decided to postpone it until after the elections, adding that the postponement did not mean that the commission had suspended its existing mechanisms for maintaining the integrity of the voter register.

Integrity of general election guaranteed

Addressing concerns that the irregularities could undermine the credibility of the general election, the INEC chairman said the commission has put in place additional safeguards to prevent multiple accreditations and voting on Election Day.

He explained that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), working with the prescribed Standard Operating Procedures for presiding officers, would require voters to be physically present at their designated polling units for biometric authentication.

According to him, accreditation would be conducted through either fingerprint or facial recognition, with the system designed to verify voters’ identities against the register and prevent the same person from being accredited more than once.

He added that the procedures for issuing ballot papers would provide another layer of protection against multiple voting, saying the commission remained committed to removing invalid entries without compromising the rights of eligible Nigerians to participate in the elections.

PVCs distribution stillongoing

On the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), Amupitan said distribution of the cards produced under the first and second phases of the CVR, alongside transferred PVCs, was ongoing at local government areas across the country.

Some PVCs produced under the third and final phase were being delivered and would be dispatched to states the following week.

He said the distribution would return to registration areas across the country from December 1, 2026 and appealed for patience from Nigerians who registered during the third phase.

Amupitan explained that the production of the cards was being undertaken outside the country.

He said the commission would continue to provide verifiable information on the outcome of the cleaning process while protecting personal data and the integrity of ongoing investigations.

Amupitan said the commission recognises that the discovery of irregularities raised legitimate questions about how they occurred but insisted that INEC’s response was based on evidence, corrective action and stronger preventive measures.

He reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to ensuring that only eligible voters remained on the register while protecting those entitled to exercise their franchise in the elections. (The Nation, but headline rejigged)