INEC Must Republish Cleaned-Up Voters Register Before December 15 – SOAI

The Speak Out Africa Initiative (SOAI) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately republish its cleaned-up Preliminary Register of Voters to allow Nigerians to scrutinise their registration details ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The organisation said the Commission should make the corrected register available online before presenting the Final Register to political parties on December 15, 2026, arguing that citizens deserve another opportunity to identify omissions, report irregularities and verify changes to their polling units.

In a press statement issued on Friday, November 13, and signed by its Communications Associate, Wasila Usman, SOAI said INEC’s announcement that it had concluded the clean-up exercise was not sufficient without making the outcome accessible for public verification.

The organisation noted that INEC had announced the removal of 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations and 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons.

It argued that the scale of the corrections made it necessary for the Commission to give voters another opportunity to confirm that legitimate registrations had been preserved and that no eligible citizens were wrongly excluded.

According to SOAI, announcing the removal of invalid records does not automatically establish that the resulting register is accurate and free from errors.

The organisation also raised concerns about the additional 453 polling units introduced by INEC to address congestion and improve access to voting locations.

It warned that changes to polling-unit allocations could create confusion and potentially disenfranchise voters if affected citizens were not adequately informed about their new voting locations.

SOAI urged INEC to provide clear information on the additional polling units and ensure that voters could verify where they would cast their ballots during the January 16, 2027 elections.

The group further questioned the Commission’s handling of the statutory claims and objections period provided under Section 19(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026.

It recalled that the Preliminary Register was published online on October 26, while a dedicated complaint mechanism was reportedly introduced on October 28 and closed on November 7.

SOAI expressed concern that the period available for submitting complaints might have fallen short of the statutory 14 days, urging INEC to explain how the period was calculated and whether all eligible claims and objections were received and considered in accordance with the law.

It stressed that republishing the corrected register would provide an additional opportunity to identify unresolved errors, while noting that such an exercise should not be regarded as replacing or curing any statutory obligation that may have been breached.

The organisation also acknowledged INEC’s disclosure that 54 personnel across 10 states had been identified for further investigation over alleged involvement in registration irregularities.

However, it maintained that public confidence in the electoral process could not be restored through announcements alone, insisting that the Commission must demonstrate transparency through actions that allow independent public scrutiny.

SOAI consequently urged INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, to upload the cleaned-up register to the Commission’s official website and provide sufficient time for voters, political parties and civil society organisations, including eligible Nigerians in the diaspora, to examine the records.

It also called for an accessible complaint and tracking mechanism to address possible omissions, wrongful deletions, duplicate registrations and other inconsistencies before the final register is certified and presented to political parties.

The organisation warned that the December 15 finalisation deadline, coming barely a month before the scheduled January 16 presidential and National Assembly elections, left limited room for resolving outstanding registration problems if public scrutiny was delayed.

It maintained that the period before finalisation should be used for additional verification and corrective action rather than waiting until the register had been formally certified.

SOAI said the credibility of the 2027 elections would depend not only on the conduct of election-day activities but also on the accuracy of the voters register and the transparency of the administrative processes preceding the polls.

The organisation insisted that INEC must republish the cleaned-up register immediately, allow Nigerians to examine it and address outstanding concerns to protect the voting rights of eligible citizens.