The Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Governance, Ayodeji Ologun, has criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission over the conclusion of its Continuous Voter Registration exercise, describing the process as inconsistent with the meaning of “continuous” and calling for a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s voter registration system.
Ologun, who spoke on Monday during Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, argued that it was contradictory for INEC to describe the exercise as continuous while imposing a deadline for eligible Nigerians to register.
According to him, voter registration should be available throughout the year, enabling citizens who attain the age of 18 to register immediately without waiting for the commission to announce an exercise.
“It is illegal. It is unfair that you call something continuous voter’s registration and then you put a peg on it, you say it has closed. What does that justify the grammatical use of the word continuous,” Ologun said.
The electoral commission had on Sunday concluded the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration exercise after extending the deadline by two weeks from July 10 to July 26, 2026, following appeals from civil society organisations and a surge in last minute applicants.
INEC had explained that the closure was in line with Section 17 of the Electoral Act 2022, which requires the suspension of voter registration at least 90 days before a general election. The commission also said the timeline would enable it to clean the voters’ register, remove duplicate registrations and prepare Permanent Voter Cards ahead of the 2027 general elections.
However, Ologun maintained that Nigeria’s voter registration process remained outdated because the same officials handling registration were also responsible for conducting elections.
“We are living archaic life in Nigeria. Voter’s registration should not have an opening day or a closing day. The reason why they tell you it is continuous and then they tell you it is closing on one particular day is because the same people who are responsible for that registration across all the wards and the local government are the same people that INEC wants to use for election,” he said.
The governance advocate also argued that the just concluded exercise, despite lasting almost one year and becoming the longest registration period since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, failed to achieve its intended objective of increasing voter participation.
“It is very important to note that the continuous voter registration that ended yesterday… made it the longest that we’ve had in our democratic dispensation since 1999. The question would be, was it able to achieve the needed intention? The answer would be a capital no,” he said.
According to Ologun, repeated extensions granted by INEC reflected growing voter apathy among Nigerians.
“Nigerians are reluctant. Nigerians are showing unwillingness to come out to register and this further proves the claim that there seems to be rising apathy in voters’ participation in the electoral process,” he stated.
He warned that low participation in elections could allow a small fraction of the electorate to determine the country’s leadership.
Ologun further advocated a fully digital voter registration process that would allow eligible citizens to register online, choose their preferred collection centres for Permanent Voter Cards or have the cards delivered to their homes.
“Once you’ve clocked the age of 18, you should be able to log into the INEC website, upload your data, get registered, and indicate where you want to pick up your permanent voter’s card, or even have it delivered to your doorstep,” he said.
He also called for greater integration of national databases, arguing that information already captured by the National Identity Management Commission should be sufficient for voter registration and other government services.
On voter participation, Ologun insisted that the success of Nigeria’s electoral process should be measured by the number of citizens who eventually vote rather than those who merely register.
“Look, we have over 80 million qualified voters in Nigeria that are eligible to vote. The total number of registrations in Nigeria presently is less than 45 million. That tells you that more than half of qualified voters are unregistered,” he said.
He also raised concerns over reports of stolen Permanent Voter Cards in Osun State, urging INEC to ensure that compromised cards are invalidated before the next general election.
