By Nkechi Eze
The National Register of Voters has risen to more than 103 million ahead of the 2027 general elections, following the completion of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said.
According to a statement signed by Adedayo Oketola, Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, the commission has completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities contained in its timetable for the elections, with preparations now entering the “amber zone” as the countdown intensifies.
Amupitan disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a strategic workshop with media executives organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in collaboration with INEC.
The workshop, themed “Strengthening Democracy Through Partnership Among Editors, Civil Society and Electoral Institutions,” focused on strengthening collaboration among electoral institutions, the media and civil society ahead of the 2027 polls.
The INEC chairman said the three-phase CVR exercise attracted 10,772,421 new registrants, comprising 2,611,266 in the first phase, 4,121,835 in the second and 3,867,997 in the third phase, subject to final verification.
He said the commission had completed the final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup, adding that the preliminary display of the voters’ register for claims and objections would take place from October 9 to 15, 2026.
“Following the conclusion of our three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which captured over 10.6 million new applicants, our Voter Register Department has completed the final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup. Nigeria’s National Register of Voters is now over 103 million,” Amupitan said.
He announced that nationwide collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) would commence on Friday, October 9, with newly produced cards distributed to Local Government Area collection centres.
The chairman also disclosed that INEC had introduced printable PVC technology aimed at reducing delays associated with the production and collection of voters’ cards, particularly for eligible voters who lose or have their cards stolen.
Amupitan said the commission had acquired 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines as part of efforts to strengthen its technological infrastructure ahead of the elections.
He said INEC was deliberately improving existing electoral technologies rather than introducing untested systems shortly before the 2027 polls, noting that the upgraded BVAS, enhanced electronic result management system and other technologies were being deployed to ensure that every valid vote counted and was seen to count.
According to him, the commission has also introduced an enhanced eEC8A form designed to digitise and cryptographically authenticate polling-unit results before their upload to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
He added that artificial intelligence-driven systems were being deployed to detect anomalies in database traffic and strengthen cybersecurity around the electoral process.
On vote-buying and illegal campaign financing, Amupitan said INEC was collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to monitor campaign spending.
He said a joint financial monitoring mechanism would track suspicious and illegal campaign expenditure, while surveillance would be strengthened around polling units.
Amupitan warned politicians and their agents that violations of the Electoral Act would attract arrest and prosecution.
“Elections must be decided by the conviction of the voter, not the depth of a candidate’s pocket,” he said.
The INEC chairman also warned against the use of social media to spread false information capable of undermining the electoral process, describing malicious disinformation as “citizenship terrorism through social media.”
He urged editors and journalists to verify information before publication, warning that false reports could suppress voter turnout, create panic and ultimately undermine otherwise credible elections.
Amupitan expressed particular concern over deepfakes, manipulated audio-visual materials, coordinated fake news and premature declarations of unofficial results.
He recalled instances where old photographs, manipulated images and fabricated reports had been circulated as current election-related events, including a false report during the Federal Capital Territory elections alleging that members of the National Youth Service Corps had been killed.
The chairman said investigations later established that the report was false, urging newsrooms to take the time to verify information before publication.
On electoral security, Amupitan warned that no political ambition was worth the loss of Nigerian lives, adding that INEC’s early-warning mechanism under the Inter-Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) was monitoring political violence, thuggery and inflammatory rhetoric ahead of the elections.
He said logistics and field operations were also being strengthened, noting that readiness audits had been completed in the South-West and North-West geopolitical zones, while audits in other zones would follow.
The audits, he said, covered state offices, storage facilities, security protocols and logistics, while early procurement and distribution of non-sensitive materials had commenced.
The chairman further disclosed that all electoral officers and temporary staff would be required to take an oath of neutrality under Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2026.
He said the commission would maintain zero tolerance for partisanship, negligence and compromised ethical conduct among its personnel.
Amupitan said the credibility of the 2027 elections would depend not only on activities at polling units but also on how information about the electoral process was generated, verified and disseminated.
Earlier, President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba, called for a credible and transparent electoral process that would enable voters, rather than the courts, to determine the outcome of elections.
Anaba said elections were not merely about casting ballots but about building citizens’ confidence that their votes would count and that institutions responsible for conducting elections would act fairly and professionally.
He expressed concern over the growing reliance on the courts to resolve election disputes, stressing that the electoral process should be strong enough to reflect the choices of voters.
Also speaking, INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Haruna said the workshop was important because the commission had conducted several off-cycle and bye-elections since Amupitan assumed office.
He listed the Anambra governorship election, the FCT Area Council elections, the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections and several legislative bye-elections among the polls conducted under the present commission.
Haruna added that INEC had monitored the primaries of all 22 registered political parties participating in the 2027 electoral process, including processes arising from court-ordered creation of new state constituencies.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Media and Society, Akin Akingbulu, called for stronger verification mechanisms in newsrooms and greater transparency from INEC, while the Executive Director of the International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade, stressed the importance of timely and transparent communication from the commission.
Arogundade said information gaps created opportunities for speculation and urged INEC to maintain a healthy relationship with the media based on access, transparency and mutual responsibility without compromising editorial independence.
Giving the objectives of the workshop, Oketola said editors were the chief gatekeepers of electoral information and that direct engagement with newsrooms had become a core priority for the commission.
He said the engagement was aimed at rebuilding institutional trust through open dialogue, combating information disorder through fact verification and promoting shared responsibility for credible elections.
In her goodwill message, INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, said the engagement would help align media leadership with the commission’s operational roadmap.
“We’re in the eye of the storm a lot of the times these days, and so it’s important that we are on the same page,” she said, urging editors to provide citizens with timely and accurate information ahead of the 2027 elections.
