A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has said the commission must use the existing voters’ register for the 2027 general elections despite concerns about its credibility.
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However, Okoye called for a new biometric voters’ register to be compiled immediately after the elections, describing the current database as opaque, unclean and unreliable.
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He made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, while responding to a question about how INEC could restore public confidence in the register ahead of the 2027 elections.
Okoye said there was little the commission could do to address the concerns before the polls, insisting 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 a fresh biometric registration exercise should begin immediately after the 2027 general 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.
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“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.
His comments come amid concerns about 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 from October 9 to 15, 2026, giving registered voters the opportunity to check their details and submit claims or objections.
INEC also published the preliminary register online to allow 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, as well as 873 records belonging to verified deceased persons.
He further disclosed that 54 officials across 10 states had been identified for administrative investigation and possible prosecution over their alleged involvement in registration irregularities.
The reported offences included multiple registrations, manipulated photographs and deliberate breaches of registration procedures by some officials.
Amupitan said the clean-up of the latest registration exercise would not resolve every problem associated with the national voters’ register, noting that some irregularities originated from previous registration exercises.
INEC is expected to publish the final voters’ register on December 15, 2026, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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