INEC Deletes 1.6 Million Voter Registrations, Flags 54 Officials

• INEC has deleted over 1.6 million invalid voter registrations and removed 1,749 deceased persons’ records following a nationwide review of the preliminary register.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed 1,608,660 invalid voter registrations following a nationwide review of entries from the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise.

The commission also disclosed that 54 registration officials across 10 states had been identified for possible disciplinary action, including prosecution, over alleged involvement in irregularities.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, announced the findings on Monday while briefing journalists on the review of the preliminary register of voters.

He said the commission received 11,088,238 registration records across the three phases of the exercise.

INEC removes records of deceased persons

The commission said it removed 876 records belonging to persons verified to be deceased and subsequently identified and deleted another 873.

This brought the total number of deceased persons’ records removed to 1,749.

The announcement did not clarify whether these records were included in the overall figure of 1,608,660 invalid registrations.

Biometric system flagged entries for examination

Amupitan said INEC’s Automated Biometric Identification System initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination.

He explained that a record being flagged did not automatically mean it was invalid. Each case underwent additional examination and authorised adjudication before a decision was reached.

The distinction meant that the automated screening served as an initial review stage rather than a final determination of a registration’s validity.

Public complaints prompted scrutiny

The clean-up followed claims, objections and complaints submitted after the preliminary register was displayed nationwide between October 9 and 15, 2026.

Nigerians and civil society organisations had raised concerns about suspected duplicate registrations, unusual names, records of deceased persons and photographs alleged to have been generated using artificial intelligence.

Some questionable images circulated on social media, prompting scrutiny of the registration process and the commission’s verification procedures.

INEC subsequently reviewed the complaints and removed entries found to be invalid.

Registration officials face possible sanctions

Amupitan said the 54 officials identified across 10 states could face disciplinary measures, including prosecution, over their alleged roles in the irregularities.

The announcement did not specify the individual allegations against the officials or identify the affected states.

INEC said the cleaned-up register of voters would be published on December 16, 2026.