The Independent National Electoral Commission said it has removed a total of 1,609,553 records from the preliminary voters’ register.
This followed a nationwide clean-up which uncovered more than 1.6 million invalid registrations and 873 verified deceased voters ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The commission also disclosed that 54 persons across 10 states had been identified as complicit in the registration irregularities, warning that those involved would face disciplinary measures, including possible prosecution.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Monday during a press conference held in Abuja on the display and publication of the preliminary voters’ register.
He said the clean-up followed complaints, claims and objections received from members of the public after the register was displayed between October 9 and 15, 2026.
According to him, the commission removed 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations from the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise, while 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons were separately expunged, bringing the combined number of removed records to 1,609,553.
Amupitan said the exercise had been concluded, with final reconciliation, quality assurance and publication checks ongoing ahead of the release of the final register on December 15, 2026.
He said, “The commission confirms that the current register-cleaning exercise for the 2025/2026 Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) has been concluded. All 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations have been removed.
“In addition, 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons have also been removed as a separate category. The combined total of records removed under these two categories is 1,609,553.”
The development represents one of the commission’s most extensive voter register clean-up exercises in recent years and comes amid growing concerns over the credibility of the electoral register ahead of the 2027 elections.
The chairman explained that the irregularities became a major issue following the publication of the preliminary register, which attracted public complaints over suspected duplicate registrations, artificial or manipulated photographs, unusual names and registration patterns, as well as the continued appearance of deceased persons on the register.
He said some members of the public had alleged that the irregularities were deliberately introduced to compromise the 2027 elections.
However, the commission decided to wait until the expiration of the 14-day statutory period for complaints before presenting its findings and responding to the allegations.
Amupitan said, “The display and online publication of the 2026 preliminary register brought additional public attention, comments and criticisms to apparently artificial or manipulated photographs, duplicate registration attempts, unusual names and registration patterns and reports of deceased persons remaining on the register.
