By Abiodun Folarin
WorldStage— The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has removed 1,609,553 records from the Preliminary Register of Voters following a nationwide clean-up exercise,
The commission explain that it also identified 54 registration personnel across 10 states for disciplinary action, including possible prosecution, over alleged complicity in registration irregularities.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, disclosed this on Monday while addressing a press conference on the review of the Preliminary Register of Voters arising from the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
He said the affected records comprised 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations and 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons, following complaints, claims and objections received during the display of the preliminary register between October 9 and 15, 2026.
According to Amupitan, the Commission received 11,088,238 registration records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 CVR exercise, out of which its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination.
He explained that 1,277,052 registrations had been confirmed invalid and excluded before the publication of the Preliminary Register, while a further 268,000 cases were subjected to adjudication following public complaints.
Of the additional cases reviewed, 217,722 were confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared as valid and retained in the register.
The Commission subsequently identified another 113,886 invalid registrations through additional screening, bringing the cumulative number of invalid registrations removed after the objection process to 331,608.
Amupitan stressed that a record flagged by the automated biometric system does not automatically constitute an invalid registration, explaining that such records must undergo authorised adjudication before a final decision is reached.
He said the clean-up exercise had been concluded, with final reconciliation, quality assurance and publication checks continuing ahead of the release of the Final Register of Voters scheduled for December 15, 2026.
The INEC chairman said the investigation uncovered deliberate circumvention of established registration procedures by some registration personnel, including the misuse of provisions designed to accommodate exceptional registration circumstances, particularly for persons with disabilities.
He added that the affected records had been identified and subjected to appropriate review, while the personnel allegedly involved had been identified for administrative investigation.
“Fifty-four persons cutting across ten States have been identified as complicit and necessary disciplinary action will be taken against them, including possible prosecution,” he said.
Amupitan, however, warned that the removal of irregular registrations arising from the 2025/2026 CVR exercise would not completely address the integrity challenges confronting the national voter register.
He explained that a significant proportion of the multiple registration cases and suspicious photographs circulating on social media originated from historical voter records captured between 2011 and 2023.
According to him, the national register has evolved through successive registration exercises conducted under different technologies, operational arrangements and quality standards, leaving historical integrity issues that require a systematic response.
He disclosed that the Commission, at its meeting on November 9, 2026, resolved to address the historical duplications and directed that cases already flagged through public complaints, as well as obvious cases identified on the register, should be removed after proper verification.
The proposed nationwide voter revalidation exercise, earlier announced in February 2026, had been deferred until after the 2027 general elections following concerns from stakeholders about its proximity to the polls and the potential impact on eligible voters.
Amupitan said the postponement did not suspend existing mechanisms for maintaining the integrity of the register, noting that biometric screening, adjudication and statutory claims and objections remained operational.
On complaints by some voters that their names were missing from the Preliminary Register, the INEC chairman said investigations showed that most of the affected persons had registered between 2011 and 2023.
He explained that some voters who relocated to new areas failed to transfer their registration but instead registered again at their new locations.
Such subsequent registrations were invalidated by the ABIS, while their original registration records remained in their previous locations.
He therefore advised affected voters to check the register at their former registration locations.
On Permanent Voter Card (PVC) distribution, Amupitan said the distribution of cards from the first and second phases of the CVR exercise, alongside transferred PVCs, was ongoing at various local government areas across the country.
He said some PVCs produced for the third and final phase were being delivered and would be dispatched to states the following week.
According to him, distribution would return to Registration Areas nationwide from December 1, 2026.
He appealed for patience from voters who participated in the third phase, explaining that the production of the cards was being undertaken outside the country.
The INEC chairman assured Nigerians that additional safeguards had been put in place to prevent multiple accreditation and voting during the 2027 general elections.
He said the Standard Operating Procedures for Presiding Officers, alongside the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), require voters to be physically present at their designated polling units for biometric authentication through fingerprints or facial recognition.
The system, he explained, verifies voters’ identities against the register and records successful accreditation, with controls designed to prevent the same voter from being accredited more than once.
He added that these measures, together with established procedures for issuing ballot papers, would provide additional protection against multiple voting.
Amupitan reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to protecting eligible voters from wrongful exclusion while removing invalid entries, insisting that the clean-up process was based on evidence from public complaints, documented objections and verification reports from state offices.
He said INEC would continue to communicate verifiable aggregate outcomes while safeguarding personal information and the integrity of ongoing investigations.
The Final Register of Voters is expected to be published on December 15, 2026, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
