The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and opposition political parties, yesterday, disagreed over alleged irregularities in the ongoing voters pre-registration exercise and figures coming out.
According to the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Labour Party, LP, and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the new voters pre-registration figure showing massive listings in the South-West and specifically, Osun State, compared to other parts of the country, is worrisome and portends danger for the 2027 polls.
But INEC said it is normal, going by past records.
Meanwhile, forensic experts in the country have declared their readiness to help the commission address the disparities.
At press time, the ruling APC had yet to speak on the issue.
“There is nothing extraordinary about the online pre-registration data released by the Commission. Nothing can be further from the truth,” Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, said in a statement.
He explained that the commission launched the current Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise on August 18, 2025, with online pre-registration, followed by in-person registration on August 25.
According to him, INEC released figures for the first week, showing a total of 1,379,342 online pre-registrants nationwide.
“Osun State led with 393,269 registrants, followed by Lagos State with 222,205, while the Federal Capital Territory was third with 107,682.
“Within the first 24 hours of launching the portal on June 28, 2021, 59,331 accounts were created. By the second week on July 21, 2021, Osun led with 154,893 pre-registrations.
“By the eighth week on August 23, 2021, Osun still led with 365,412. At the conclusion of the exercise in April 2022, Osun was ahead of all states with 708,782 registrations.
“If the party were proactive enough, a simple search of past records already in the public domain would have revealed these facts.
“Throughout the last CVR exercise, the commission displayed the preliminary register for claims and objections, while applying due diligence to ensure only eligible voters were included. After these processes, over 9.4 million new voters were added to the register, bringing the total to 93,469,008 for the 2023 general election.”
INEC maintained that it is not its responsibility to speculate on why one state records more registrants than others, but assured Nigerians of its commitment to transparency.
“Our duty as a commission, which we take seriously, is to ensure that only real persons who meet the criteria stipulated in the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022 are allowed to register,” Oyekanmi stressed.
“The commission will continue to provide timely updates on the progress of the current CVR. We appeal to all well-meaning citizens to be circumspect in going public with information when authentic and verifiable data is readily available,” Oyekanmi said.
