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Nigeria’s electoral body has disclosed that a review of the nation’s voters’ register showed that the names of several deceased Nigerians are still included on the list used for elections.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, made the disclosure on Wednesday during the commission’s first quarterly meeting with civil society organisations.
Amupitan said INEC would soon commence a nationwide verification exercise to sanitise the voters’ register.
He explained that the exercise is intended to identify and remove ineligible entries in order to improve the credibility and integrity of the electoral database.
Amupitan, while citing the November off-cycle governorship election in Anambra State, noted that although there were over 2.9 million registered voters, turnout was very low.
“When we look at the Voters Register for Anambra state during the off-cycle elections in November, we discovered that the number of registered voters stood at over 2.9 million, but only about 600 came out to vote,” Amupita said.
“This is just about 20 percent of the registered voters. So, we decided to take another look at the register, and we discovered the names of prominent Nigerian politicians who have died still on the register.
“That impact on the integrity of the register, and we have to do a cleanup because we don’t expect the dead to come from the grave to vote.”
The INEC chairman also disclosed that the timetable for the 2027 general elections has been prepared but is being delayed due to ongoing amendments to the Electoral Act, which may affect the schedule.
