The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has entered a fresh phase of preparations for the 2027 general elections, with more than 103 million voters now on the national register and nationwide collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) set to begin on Friday.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja, saying the commission had completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities contained in its election timetable.
He said the latest voter figure followed a three-phase Continuous Voter Registration exercise which produced 10,772,421 new registrations, subject to final biometric verification.
The first phase recorded 2,611,266 registrations between August 25 and December 10, 2025, while the second phase produced 4,121,835 between January 5 and April 17, 2026.
The third phase, conducted between May 11 and July 26, 2026, added 3,867,997 registrations.
Amupitan said the commission had completed the final Automated Biometric Identification System cleanup and was preparing for the next stage of the electoral process.
“Following the conclusion of our three-phase Continuous Voter Registration exercise and the completion of the public display of the Preliminary Register for claims and objections, our Voter Register Department has completed the final ABIS cleanup. Nigeria’s National Register of Voters is now over 103 million,” he said.
He disclosed that INEC had processed and distributed the first phase of PVCs to all local government centres, urging voters to collect their cards ahead of the elections.
The commission introduced online registration during the third phase of the CVR and deployed printable PVC technology under the Electoral Act 2026 to reduce delays in producing and collecting voter cards.
Amupitan said INEC had also begun nationwide readiness assessments covering facilities, election materials, security arrangements and logistics networks.
He said physical readiness audits and staff engagements had been completed in the South-West and North-West, while early procurement and distribution of non-sensitive election materials had commenced.
The commission has also procured new operational vehicles for deployment to state offices and local government areas, particularly to improve logistics in difficult terrains.
On election personnel, Amupitan said all electoral officers and temporary staff would be required to take an oath of neutrality in line with the Electoral Act.
“INEC has zero tolerance for partisanship, administrative negligence, or compromised ethics. Any official found wanting will face immediate administrative measures,” he said.
The commission also plans to strengthen monitoring of campaign finance and vote-buying through collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
Amupitan warned political parties and their agents against attempting to buy votes.
“Attempt to trade cash or material gifts for votes, and you will face immediate arrest and prosecution under the Electoral Act 2026,” he said.
He said INEC was also upgrading the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, result-management systems and cybersecurity infrastructure ahead of the elections.
According to him, the enhanced eEC8A system will digitise and cryptographically authenticate polling unit result sheets before uploading them to the commission’s public result-viewing portal, IReV.
He added that artificial intelligence-based anomaly detection tools had been integrated to monitor database traffic and guard against cyber intrusions and unauthorised alterations.
The INEC chairman also expressed concern over the spread of disinformation, deepfakes, manipulated audio-visual content and premature declarations of unofficial results.
He urged news organisations to strengthen verification before publishing election-related information.
“Editors must insist on rigorous fact-checking, reject sensationalised clickbait, and cross-check unverified field rumours with our official channels,” Amupitan said.
President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba, said the credibility of the 2027 elections would depend on whether Nigerians were confident that their votes would count.
He said citizens should be able to determine election outcomes through their votes rather than prolonged legal disputes.
Anaba said a credible electoral process required institutions that were fair, transparent and trusted by citizens.
INEC’s Chief Press Secretary, Adedayo Oketola, said the commission was seeking closer cooperation with newsrooms to tackle fake news, deepfakes and other forms of information disorder ahead of the elections.
He described editors as the “chief gatekeepers” of information reaching the public and said INEC wanted to establish faster fact-verification channels with news organisations.
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