2027: Amupitan seeks voter register clean-up to remove deceased names

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan. Photo: INEC

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The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), on Thursday, stressed the need to clean up the voter register to ensure a credible poll in 2027.

The INEC chairman revealed that the voter register had not been cleaned up since 2011, saying it contains the names of many dead persons.

Amupitan revealed this at the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room National Stakeholders Forum on Elections in Abuja, while giving an update on the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, which ended on December 10.

He explained that the CVR would be followed by the claims and objections window, which would open on Monday, December 15 and urged the civil society organisations to help mobilise citizens for the exercise.

Amupitan said, “I want to appeal to civil society and all stakeholders here to help mobilise citizens to take advantage of this window. Some of the challenges we face stem from low participation in this stage.

“For instance, during our review in Anambra, we assessed a register of 2.8 million voters, yet turnout suggested only a 20 per cent participation rate. However, it is important to note that our voter register has not been comprehensively cleaned since 2011, meaning several names of deceased persons still appear.

“I do not want to mention specific names, but in Anambra, a prominent leader—well known to have died many years ago—was still listed in the register. When someone who passed away 15 years ago, known both locally and internationally, remains on the voter register, it raises concerns about credibility. Statutorily, the claims and objections window is designed to address this.”

On the CVR, Amupitan said 2,685,725 applicants completed registrations in the first phase, which ended on December 10.

He said the figure includes 1,576,137 completed online registrations and 1,109,588 completed through physical capture.

According to him, turnout was highest in Osun, Kaduna, Plateau, Imo, Borno, and Lagos, respectively.

He said, “Since the CVR exercise began on August 18, I am pleased to share the latest data reflecting the nationwide response. As of our most recent updates, the commission has recorded 2,685,725 completed registrations. Of this figure, 1,576,137 individuals completed their registration online, while 1,109,588 finalised their registration through physical capture.

“Osun State maintains its lead with 208,357 registered voters, followed by Kaduna State with 159,669, Plateau State with 152,650, and Imo State with 145,561. States like Borno (123,835) and Lagos (123,484) also reflect significant participation.

“The crucial exercise was scheduled to conclude its first quarter on December 10, and Phase One was successfully brought to a close yesterday. Beginning December 15, we will commence the next stage, which is the claims and objections period.”

The chairman explained that claims and objections window, which would open on December 15, is to allow citizens verify and correct entries before the data is consolidated.

According to him, the Phase two of the CVR will begin on January 5, 2026, with registration centres moved closer to wards and communities to address distance and access challenges faced in Phase One.

On vote-buying, the INEC chairman said the commission had reached out to security agencies for updates on individuals arrested for financial inducement during recent elections.

“We have written to the police, the EFCC and others to provide investigation reports on those arrested. INEC can only prosecute; we do not have powers to arrest,” he said, adding that the commission relied on covert and overt security deployments to curb inducement at polling units.

Amupitan also said the commission’s deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal has improved transparency, but the systems are frequently hindered by poor network coverage across several polling units.

“A tool like BVAS is only as good as the network it runs on. Achieving real-time upload of results to IReV is still one of our toughest operational battles,” he said.

Amupitan recalled a mock accreditation exercise conducted before the Anambra governorship election, where several polling units recorded delays in BVAS uploads due to unstable service.

He said while some devices uploaded accreditation figures immediately, others failed because presiding officers were operating in areas with poor network signals.

The INEC chairman said the commission is in continuous discussions with the Nigerian Communications Commission and mobile network operators and is exploring alternative technologies and system redundancies.

He however stressed that INEC currently does not control the underlying telecom infrastructure.

“Someone once asked what happens if a powerful politician convinces a service provider to switch off its service on election day. The truth is that we do not have control over these networks. These are the structural issues we must all confront,” he said.

Amupitan said the commission looks forward to a future in which it can operate its own dedicated service infrastructure but noted that such capacity does not yet exist.

The PUNCH reports that CVR is a statutory exercise designed to allow eligible Nigerians who have turned 18, or who were previously unregistered, to enrol as voters; it also enables those who have changed residence to transfer their registration records.

The PUNCH journalist, Solomon, has five years experience covering crime, judiciary and defence beats.

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