By: Goodluck E. Adubazi, Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that Nigeria’s National Register of Voters has risen to more than 103 million ahead of the 2027 general elections, following the completion of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, also announced that the commission had acquired 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines as part of measures to strengthen the technological infrastructure for the elections.
Amupitan disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a strategic workshop with media executives organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), in collaboration with INEC.
The workshop was themed: “Strengthening Democracy Through Partnership Among Editors, Civil Society and Electoral Institutions.”
According to the INEC chairman, the commission has completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities contained in its timetable for the 2027 elections, describing the preparations as having entered the “amber zone” as the countdown to the polls intensifies.
He said the three-phase CVR exercise attracted 10,772,421 new registrants, comprising 2,611,266 in the first phase, 4,121,835 in the second and 3,867,997 in the third phase, subject to final verification.
Amupitan said the commission had completed the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup, adding that the preliminary display of the register for claims and objections would take place from October 9 to 15, 2026.
He said the first phase of the CVR commenced on August 25, 2025, and ended on December 10, 2025, while the second phase ran from January 5 to April 17, 2026.
The third phase commenced on May 11 and ended on July 26, 2026.
“Following the conclusion of our three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which captured over 10.6 million new applicants, our Voter Register Department has completed the final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup. Nigeria’s National Register of Voters is now over 103 million,” Amupitan said.
He announced that nationwide collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) would commence on Friday, October 9, with newly produced cards distributed to Local Government Area collection centres.
The chairman said INEC had also introduced printable PVC technology to reduce the waiting period associated with the production and collection of voters’ cards.
According to him, the technology would particularly assist eligible voters who had lost or had their PVCs stolen, helping to reduce the risk of disenfranchisement.
Amupitan said INEC had deliberately focused on improving existing electoral technologies rather than introducing untested systems shortly before the 2027 elections.
He said the acquisition of 57,000 new BVAS machines, alongside upgrades to the electronic result management system and other technologies, was aimed at ensuring that every valid vote counted and was seen to count.
He disclosed that the commission had also introduced an enhanced eEC8A form, designed to digitise and cryptographically authenticate polling-unit results before their upload to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The commission, he added, was deploying artificial intelligence-driven systems to detect anomalies in database traffic and strengthen cybersecurity around the electoral process.
Amupitan expressed concern over the growing use of social media to spread false information capable of undermining elections, describing malicious disinformation as “citizenship terrorism through social media.”
He urged editors and journalists to verify information before publication, warning that false reports could suppress voter turnout, create panic and ultimately undermine otherwise credible elections.
He recalled instances where old photographs, manipulated images and fabricated reports had been circulated as current election-related events.
According to him, a false report during the Federal Capital Territory elections claimed that members of the National Youth Service Corps had been killed, allegedly creating the impression that Abuja was engulfed in violence.
He said subsequent investigations established that the report was false.
The INEC chairman urged newsrooms to take “a second, a minute” to verify information before publication, stressing that sensationalism must not be allowed to undermine the electoral process.
He identified deepfakes, manipulated audio-visual materials, coordinated fake news and premature declarations of unofficial results as major threats ahead of the 2027 elections.
On vote-buying and illegal campaign financing, Amupitan said INEC was collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to monitor campaign spending.
He said a joint financial monitoring mechanism would track suspicious and illegal campaign expenditure, while surveillance around polling units would also be strengthened.
The chairman warned politicians and their agents that violations of the Electoral Act would attract arrest and prosecution.
“Elections must be decided by the conviction of the voter, not the depth of a candidate’s pocket,” he said.
He also warned against electoral violence, saying no political ambition was worth the loss of Nigerian lives.
Amupitan said INEC’s early-warning mechanism under the Inter-Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) was monitoring political violence, thuggery and inflammatory rhetoric ahead of the polls.
The chairman said the commission was strengthening its logistics and field operations, adding that readiness audits had been completed in the South-West and North-West geopolitical zones, with other zones to follow.
He said the audits covered state offices, storage facilities, security protocols and logistics, while early procurement and distribution of non-sensitive materials had commenced.
On electoral personnel, Amupitan said all electoral officers and temporary staff would be required to take an oath of neutrality under Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2026.
He warned that INEC would maintain zero tolerance for partisanship, negligence and compromised ethical conduct among its personnel.
Earlier, the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr Eze Anaba, called for a credible and transparent electoral process that would ensure voters, rather than the courts, determine the outcome of elections.
Anaba said elections were not merely about casting ballots but about building citizens’ confidence that their votes would count and that institutions responsible for conducting elections would act fairly and professionally.
“Elections are not merely about casting ballots.
They are about trust. They are about citizens believing that their votes will count, that the process will be transparent, and the institutions responsible for conducting elections will act fairly and professionally,” he said.
He expressed concern over the increasing reliance on the courts to resolve election disputes, saying the electoral process should be strong enough to reflect the choices of voters.
INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, said the workshop was particularly important given the commission’s conduct of several off-cycle and bye-elections since Amupitan assumed office.
He listed the Anambra governorship election, Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections, Ekiti and Osun governorship elections and several legislative bye-elections among the polls conducted under the present commission.
Haruna added that INEC had monitored the primaries of all 22 registered political parties participating in the 2027 electoral process, including processes arising from court-ordered creation of new state constituencies.
Executive Director of the Centre for Media and Society, Akin Akingbulu, called for stronger verification mechanisms in newsrooms and greater transparency from INEC.
Akingbulu said verification was a two-way process, arguing that newsrooms could not properly verify information that institutions failed to disclose.
He warned that deepfakes, fabricated campaign materials and other manipulated content could undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
Similarly, Executive Director of the International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade, stressed the importance of timely and transparent communication from INEC.
Arogundade said information gaps created opportunities for speculation, while silence could leave a vacuum that false information would quickly occupy.
He called for a healthy relationship between INEC and the media based on access, transparency and mutual responsibility, without compromising editorial independence or the media’s watchdog role.
Giving the objectives of the workshop, INEC Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the Chairman, Adedayo Oketola, said editors were the chief gatekeepers of electoral information.
He said direct engagement with newsrooms had become a core priority for the commission, with the workshop aimed at rebuilding institutional trust through open dialogue, combating information disorder through fact verification and promoting shared responsibility for credible elections.
In her goodwill message, INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi, said the engagement would help align media leadership with the commission’s operational roadmap.
“We’re in the eye of the storm a lot of the times these days, and so it’s important that we are on the same page,” she said.
Eta-Messi said misinformation and disinformation were not helping efforts to increase citizen participation and urged editors to provide timely and accurate information to the public.
Amupitan said the credibility of the 2027 elections would depend not only on what happens at polling units but also on how information about the process is generated, verified and disseminated.
He said INEC, the media and civil society organisations each had a critical role to play in strengthening public confidence in the elections, with the commission providing a transparent, technology-driven process, the media properly interpreting and disseminating electoral information, and civil society providing external scrutiny, inclusion and accountability.
