ADC Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar
A media aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, has questioned the extent of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) review of older voter records, following the commission’s removal of more than 1.6 million invalid entries from the 2025/2026 voter registration exercise.
Ibe, in a statement shared on his X account on Tuesday, raised concerns over whether previous voter registration records from 2011 to 2023 had undergone a comprehensive review or whether INEC only acted on complaints submitted by Nigerians.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, had disclosed that the commission removed 1,608,660 invalid records from the latest Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
The figure represents a significant portion of the records generated during the exercise and has renewed discussions about the credibility and transparency of Nigeria’s voter register ahead of future elections.
Reacting to the development, Ibe acknowledged the role of public participation in identifying questionable entries but questioned whether the same level of scrutiny was applied to previous registration exercises.
“It is important to state that public scrutiny made a difference,” Ibe said.
According to him, INEC reviewed 268,000 cases following complaints from Nigerians and discovered that 217,722 of the records were invalid.
However, he expressed concern over the timing and duration of the public review process, noting that INEC published the preliminary register online on October 26, eight days after the 90-day statutory benchmark.
Ibe argued that the limited period available for public verification could affect the ability of citizens and stakeholders to properly examine the register.
He asked whether the questionable entries would have been detected if Nigerians had not demanded access and accountability.
The former vice president’s aide also challenged INEC to provide more details before the release of the final voter register scheduled for December 15.
He asked the commission to disclose the number of removed entries across states, local government areas and wards, including the reasons behind the deletions.
“Were older records systematically screened, or did INEC only look at the ones people flagged?” Ibe queried.
He further demanded clarification on the number of eligible voters who may have been wrongly excluded or removed, as well as measures put in place to ensure affected citizens can confirm restoration of their records.
Ibe also sought information on the action taken against 54 persons identified by INEC across 10 states over suspicious registration activities, including cases involving artificial intelligence-generated images.
“What’s the status of the officers who allowed for registration of AI pictures? Who are they and when would their names be made public in the interest of accountability?” he asked.
He called on Prof. Amupitan and INEC to open the voter register clean-up process to independent verification by political parties and civil society organisations.
According to him, such transparency would help build confidence that the corrected register is the same document that will be used during elections.
The debate over the credibility of Nigeria’s voter register has remained a major issue ahead of the 2027 general elections, with stakeholders repeatedly calling for accurate voter data, stronger verification systems and public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC has maintained that its ongoing clean-up exercise is aimed at removing fraudulent and invalid entries while protecting the rights of eligible voters.
