The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed 1,608,660 invalid registrations from the preliminary register of voters following a nationwide review of entries recorded during the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
The commission also removed a total of 1,749 records belonging to deceased persons after identifying additional cases during the verification exercise.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of the review of the preliminary register of voters.
He said the commission received 11,088,238 registration records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 CVR exercise.
According to him, INEC’s Automated Biometric Identification System initially flagged 1,545,052 records for further examination.
However, Amupitan clarified that being flagged by the automated system did not automatically render a registration invalid, as each case was subjected to further scrutiny and authorised adjudication.
The clean-up exercise followed complaints, claims and objections raised by Nigerians after the preliminary register was displayed nationwide between October 9 and 15, 2026.
The register had attracted criticism from Nigerians and civil society organisations over alleged irregularities, including suspected AI-generated photographs, multiple registrations, unusual names and records of deceased persons.
Some of the questionable photographs circulated on social media, raising concerns about the credibility of the voter registration process and INEC’s verification procedures.
The commission subsequently reviewed the entries to investigate the complaints and remove registrations found to be invalid.
Amupitan further disclosed that 54 registration officials across 10 states had been identified for possible disciplinary action, including prosecution, over their alleged involvement in irregularities uncovered during the exercise.
He said INEC would publish the cleaned-up register of voters on December 16, 2026, in accordance with the Electoral Act.
