A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Festus Okoye, has said the commission has no choice but to use the existing voters’ register for the 2027 general elections despite concerns over its credibility.
Okoye, however, insisted that Nigeria must compile a new biometric voters’ register immediately after the elections, describing the current database as opaque and neither clean nor genuine.
He made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, while responding to a question on what could give Nigerians confidence in the voters’ register to be used for the 2027 elections.
Responding to the question, Okoye said there was little that could be done to address the concerns before the next general elections, adding that the country would have to proceed with the existing register.
“The truth of the matter is that there is nothing we can do now. We have to go into the election with this current voters’ register,” he said.
He maintained that the solution was to undertake a fresh biometric registration exercise immediately after the elections.
“My position is that immediately after the conduct of the 2027 general election, Nigeria must have a new biometric voters’ register.
“I think that our voters’ register as presently constituted is opaque and cannot be said to be a clean voters’ register. It cannot be said to be a genuine voters’ register that we can go into an election with.
“But the truth of the matter is that there is nothing we can do now. We have to go into the election with this current voters’ register. And immediately after the election, we should have a new biometric voters’ register,” he added.
READ ALSO:
- 2027: IG and INEC Commissioner to Address AI Misinformation at PUNCH Webinar
- Southern, Middle Belt Leaders Call for Audit of Voters’ Register on AI Photo Issues
- 2027: Osun INEC confirms 5,763 functional BVAS devices
His comments come amid concerns over the integrity of the national voters’ register following irregularities reported during INEC’s 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The commission displayed its preliminary voters’ register between October 9 and 15, 2026, allowing registered voters to inspect their details and submit claims and objections.
It also published the preliminary register online to enable more Nigerians to scrutinise the records and report suspected irregularities.
On November 9, INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, announced that the commission had removed 1,608,660 invalid registrations from the 2025/2026 exercise, alongside 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons.
He also disclosed that 54 officials across 10 states had been identified for administrative investigation and possible prosecution over their involvement in registration irregularities.
The irregularities included multiple registrations, manipulated photographs and deliberate circumvention of registration procedures by some registration officials.
Amupitan said the clean-up of the latest registration exercise would not resolve all the problems associated with the national voters’ register, as some irregularities dated back to previous registration exercises.
INEC is expected to publish the final voters’ register on December 15, 2026, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
