By Abigail Mbah
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed 1.6 million records from Nigeria’s national voters’ register following biometric screening that uncovered invalid registrations, duplicate attempts and other irregularities in the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
The commission has also identified 54 staff members across 10 states for alleged involvement in the irregularities, with disciplinary action and possible criminal prosecution expected.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja, revealing that 1,609,553 records were removed. These comprised 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations and 873 entries belonging to verified deceased persons.
According to the chairman, the commission collected more than 11 million records across the three phases of the registration exercise. Its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagged approximately 1.545 million entries for further investigation before additional verification and public objections increased the final number of removals.
Amupitan clarified that automated flags do not automatically invalidate registrations, stressing that each case must undergo authorised review before a decision is reached.
Investigations uncovered instances of deliberate procedural violations by registration personnel, including manipulated or substituted photographs and attempts to bypass established biometric capture procedures. Some questionable images were suspected to have been generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI).
In response, INEC has banned the use of ordinary webcams for voter registration, directing personnel to capture photographs exclusively through its dedicated in-app camera. The measure is intended to prevent the importation of externally sourced or AI-generated images into the registration system.
The commission has also approved an AI governance framework developed with support from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the UK High Commission. The framework will guide the responsible deployment of AI technologies in electoral operations.
INEC said it was strengthening biometric capture, authentication and verification procedures to prevent future manipulation of the voters’ register.
The chairman also cautioned against attributing all questionable records circulating online to the latest registration exercise. Some duplicate entries and mismatched photographs date back to earlier versions of the register, particularly records originating from 2011. The commission plans further verification and action against confirmed duplicates in the historical database.
The irregularities came under public scrutiny after INEC displayed the preliminary voters’ register at ward level in October, prompting complaints about suspicious photographs, unusual registration patterns and deceased persons appearing on the list.
The final register is scheduled for publication on December 15.
Meanwhile, INEC said election-day accreditation will continue to rely on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which requires voters to appear physically at their designated polling units and undergo fingerprint or facial biometric verification.
The commission said its ongoing cleanup exercise is aimed at improving the credibility of the voters’ register while ensuring that eligible citizens are not wrongly excluded.