INEC announces nationwide voter verification to remove deceased individuals and improve electoral credibility across Nigeria
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced a nationwide voter verification exercise to remove deceased individuals from the current voters’ register.
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The initiative was disclosed on Wednesday by INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, during the Commission’s first quarterly consultative meeting with Civil Society Organisations in Abuja.
Professor Amupitan explained that the exercise follows a review of the Anambra State off-cycle governorship election in November, which revealed a stark discrepancy between registered voters and actual turnout.
“We discovered that the number of registered voters stood at over 2.9 million, but only about 600 participated,” he said.
Further analysis revealed that prominent Nigerian politicians who had passed away were still listed on the register.
“That impacts on the integrity of the register and we have to do a clean-up because we don’t expect the dead to come from the grave to vote,” Amupitan noted.
The planned verification will focus on correcting data errors, authenticating records with relevant government agencies, and removing the names of deceased persons.
The Commission stressed that this process is crucial for restoring public confidence and ensuring that only eligible citizens are captured on the voters’ register.
“The reliability of the register is central to credible elections,” Amupitan said. “The presence of ineligible names undermines confidence in the democratic process.”
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INEC indicated that the clean-up exercise is part of broader reforms to strengthen electoral credibility nationwide ahead of the 2027 general elections.
