A former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mike Igini, has called on the Commission to republish a revised voter’s register after correcting it.

He urged INEC, following the Commission’s announcement at a press conference on Monday that over 1,608,660 invalid registrations have now been removed from the register.

Concerns from political parties and the general public have lingered over the credibility of the Commission to deliver free and credible elections as Nigerians head to the polls in 2027.

Mike, who spoke while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, commended the INEC Chairman, Joash Amuipitan, for acknowledging the error in the register.

“The received wisdom as an election manager, which is what the chairman has done, is that it is better to acknowledge an error rather than to preserve it.

‘Because the voter register is the foundation of any credible election”, he added that invalid registration was not new development, “And what has happened is not entirely new. Historically, we’ve had situations, particularly when we came on board in 2010”

The legal practitioner noted that under the current Electoral Act, the commission is mandated to publish the voters’ register at the ward level. ” The publication on the website will give Nigerians opportunity to interrogate because INEC processes must be subject to openness and interrogation”

Mike argued that the updated register must be republished before the final register is printed for the 2027 elections to build public trust.

“What is now expected to be done with this current register is to put it back on the website before the final production”

“On the 15th, to meet up that legal deadline, the register should again be put on the website for wider public interrogation on that register.” That is the only thing that should be done before the 15th of December”

Speaking on the level of investigation carried out after the public outcry on AI-generated photographs found in the preliminary Register of Voters published on the INEC website, Mike said: “We cannot talk about satisfaction now until the commission has come out with what they have done. I understand that the cleanup is still ongoing”.

He called for stringent punishment for those found culpable in populating the voter’s register, noting that election rigging starts from manipulating the document.

“Election rigging starts from voter’s registration where people try to populate the register

“Society makes progress based on reward and sanction, but in our country today those who do the wrong thing are being rewarded. There is no sanction at all; we are completely in a state of anomie like a failed state”, he noted.

He reiterated the need for the Commission to republish the register on their website, saying that “It is important for the commission to build public trust around it.” (Channels)