Breaking: INEC Flags Issues While Removing Thousands Of Deceased Voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that 7,746 deceased voters were removed from the national voter register across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as of December 2022.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Etta-Messi, shared this during an interview with Punch on Thursday, stating, “Seven thousand, seven hundred and forty-six deceased persons across the 36 states and the FCT were removed from the National Register of Voters as of December 2022.”

INEC emphasized that such cleanups are a routine part of preparations for general elections to maintain the integrity of the voter register. However, the commission acknowledged ongoing challenges in removing deceased voters due to the lack of comprehensive official death records.

“Problems with official death records continue to make it very difficult for INEC to remove deceased registrants,” the commission noted in its 2023 post-general election review conducted in December 2024.

The review also highlighted key statistics from the voter registration exercise, including the addition of 12,298,944 new voters and the removal of 2,780,756 invalid registrations (22.6%) through the Automated Biometric Identification System.

INEC raised concerns over declining voter turnout, which dropped to 27.5% in the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections, down from 35.6% in 2019. Stakeholders attributed this decline in part to issues like an inflated voter register, underscoring the need for more thorough cleaning efforts.

During the post-election review, stakeholders recommended that INEC strengthen collaboration with agencies like the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to better identify and remove deceased voters from the register.

“Enhanced collaboration with other agencies, such as the NIMC and NPC, was suggested to improve the identification and removal of deceased persons,” INEC stated.