The Independent National Electoral Commission has commenced moves to clean up the national voters register following the discovery of names of deceased Nigerians still listed as eligible voters, as part of preparations for the 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during the commission’s first quarterly consultative meeting with civil society organisations, saying the discovery emerged from an internal audit of the voters register.
Amupitan said the presence of dead persons on the register posed a serious threat to the credibility of elections and had made a comprehensive nationwide cleanup unavoidable.
“Our review shows that some people who passed on long ago are still listed as eligible voters. This is unacceptable and raises serious concerns about the quality of the register we currently deploy for elections,” he said.
He explained that the commission would soon embark on a nationwide verification and validation exercise aimed at removing ineligible entries and ensuring that only qualified and living citizens remain on the database.
The INEC chairman cited the November off cycle governorship election in Anambra State as an example of the challenge facing the electoral body. According to him, although over 2.9 million voters were registered for the election, only about 600,000 people eventually voted, representing roughly 20 per cent turnout.
“After the election, we reviewed the register and found that even well known politicians who are no longer alive were still listed. This weakens trust in the system and reinforces the need for urgent cleanup,” Amupitan said.
He added that preparations for the 2027 general elections were already underway, noting that a timetable had been drawn but its public release was being delayed due to proposed amendments to the Electoral Act that could affect the electoral calendar.
Amupitan assured stakeholders that INEC remained committed to conducting credible elections, stressing that a clean and reliable voters register was the foundation of a transparent and trustworthy electoral process.
Civil society organisations present at the meeting urged the commission to strengthen collaboration with relevant agencies such as the National Population Commission and health authorities, particularly in the area of data sharing, to prevent the recurrence of ghost voters on the register.
