BREAKING: INEC removes 1.6 million invalid voter records from database – The Witness Nigeria

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has deleted 1,608,660 invalid voter registrations from its database.

The commission said that it has also removed 1,749 records belonging to deceased persons.

Prof. Joash Amupitan, INEC chairman announced the figures on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of the review.

According to Amupitan, the commission received a total of 11,088,238 registration records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 voter registration exercise.

An initial screening conducted with INEC’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) flagged 1,545,052 records for further investigation.

However, the chairman cautioned against interpreting every flagged entry as an invalid registration. He explained that the automated system was designed to identify records requiring additional scrutiny, not to make final decisions on their validity.

Each flagged record, he said, was subjected to further examination and an authorised adjudication process before the commission reached its conclusions.

The review came after INEC displayed the preliminary register of voters nationwide between October 9 and 15, 2026, giving Nigerians an opportunity to inspect the entries and raise objections.

That exercise generated concerns from members of the public and civil society organisations, who pointed to what they considered suspicious entries in the register.

Among the issues raised were duplicate registrations, unusual names, photographs suspected to have been artificially generated using artificial intelligence, and records belonging to people who had died.

Some of the questionable photographs circulated widely on social media, drawing attention to the verification process and raising questions about how such entries made it into the preliminary register.

The complaints prompted further scrutiny by the commission, which subsequently reviewed the disputed records as part of its nationwide clean-up exercise.

Beyond the removal of invalid registrations, INEC disclosed that 54 registration officials in 10 states had been identified for possible disciplinary action over alleged irregularities linked to the exercise.

Amupitan said the officials could face administrative sanctions or prosecution, depending on the outcome of the necessary investigations and proceedings.

The development adds another layer of scrutiny to the voter registration process as Nigeria prepares for the 2027 general elections, with the accuracy of the electoral register remaining a key issue for political parties, civil society groups and voters.

INEC said the final, cleaned-up register of voters would be published on December 16, 2026, in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act.