ABUJA — The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received over 4,800 claims and approximately 600 objections regarding its preliminary voter register, Commission Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan announced Friday.
Speaking at the INEC National Headquarters in Abuja during a meeting with an ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission, Amupitan confirmed the figures as of Thursday. He noted that the claims—submitted at registration areas nationwide—primarily involve minor corrections, while ward-level objections were routed through Resident Electoral Commissioners.
The national voter register currently stands at over 103 million registered citizens. Amupitan assured the delegation that all complaints and discrepancies identified during the online and physical display phases will be resolved before the final voter register is officially certified on Dec. 15, 2026.
Nationwide Mock Accreditation and Safeguards
To test readiness ahead of the 2027 general elections, INEC plans to conduct nationwide mock accreditation exercises in November. The tests will evaluate voter accreditation and simultaneous electronic result transmission across all 36 states.
Amupitan highlighted new technical protocols, including a safeguard requiring polling unit results to be authenticated locally before uploading to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
”When I assumed office, the question was whether to bring in a different technology, but that was not an option given the timeline, so the Commission focused on improving the existing system,” Amupitan said.
Addressing staff integrity, the INEC Chairman disclosed that the commission secured approval for the Consolidated Election Management Body Salary Structure (CEMBSS) to enhance welfare and curb political inducements. He reaffirmed the agency’s neutrality, stating that INEC “has no candidate and no political party.”
The ECOWAS delegation—led by former Sierra Leonean Vice-President Victor Bockarie Foh and former Speaker Dr. Abbas Chernor Bundu—is conducting a pre-election assessment under the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
INEC Resolves 66 Candidate List Petitions
In a separate development, INEC released the outcomes of its review into complaints following the Oct. 10 publication of final Governorship and State Assembly candidate lists.
According to Mohammed Kudu Haruna, Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, the commission evaluated petitions concerning omitted parties, unverified party register entries, and alleged multiple nominations.
Out of 69 governorship petitions submitted by 12 political parties across 26 states, 41 succeeded while 28 were dismissed. For State Houses of Assembly elections, 25 out of 61 petitions across 11 states were upheld. Updated candidate lists reflecting these corrections have been published to the commission’s official website.