Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed 1,609,553 invalid records from the national voters register as part of efforts to strengthen the credibility of the 2027 general elections.
The electoral body said the cleanup exercise uncovered millions of questionable entries, including multiple registrations, manipulated photographs, unusual registration patterns and names of deceased persons still appearing on the register.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Monday during a press conference on the display and publication of the Preliminary Register of Voters, saying the Commission had concluded the major phase of cleaning the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) data.
Amupitan explained that 1,608,660 registrations were confirmed invalid and removed, while 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons were also deleted.
He said the exercise followed complaints, claims and objections received from Nigerians during the display of the Preliminary Register of Voters at wards between October 9 and 15, 2026, as well as the online publication of the register.
According to him, INEC harvested 11,088,238 records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 CVR, with its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagging 1,545,052 records for further examination.
The INEC chairman, however, clarified that flagged records were not automatically regarded as fraudulent, stressing that each case underwent verification before a decision was reached.
He said 1,277,052 registrations were confirmed invalid before the publication of the Preliminary Register, while additional public complaints led to the review of 268,000 more cases.
Out of the additional cases examined, Amupitan said 217,722 were found invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared and retained on the register.
He added that further screening discovered another 113,886 invalid registrations, bringing the total number of deleted records after the objection period to 331,608.
The removal of 873 deceased voters eventually brought the total number of excluded records to 1,609,553.
Amupitan assured Nigerians that the exercise was aimed at protecting the integrity of elections without disenfranchising eligible voters.
He said the Commission would continue with final reconciliation, quality assurance and publication checks ahead of the release of the Final Register of Voters on December 15, 2026.
The INEC chairman also assured voters that existing safeguards, including biometric verification, BVAS and Standard Operating Procedures, would prevent multiple accreditation and voting during the 2027 elections.