INEC Removes 7,746 Deceased Voters From Register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the removal of 7,746 deceased individuals from the national voter register across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as of December 2022. This was disclosed by the Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Etta-Messi, on Thursday.

“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,” she stated.

INEC explained that a comprehensive audit of the voter register is conducted before every general election. However, the commission noted challenges in maintaining an accurate register, particularly regarding deceased voters, due to inadequate 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 issues such as double or multiple registrations, which were addressed using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). This system helped identify and remove 2,780,756 cases of invalid registrations, representing 22.6% of new registrants nationwide.

Another concern raised was the declining voter turnout. The 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections recorded a turnout of 27.5%, a drop from 35.6% in 2019. Stakeholders partly attributed this decline to an inflated voter register and called for intensified efforts to clean it.

To address these issues, stakeholders recommended that INEC strengthen collaboration with agencies such as the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to better identify and remove deceased voters.

Additionally, there was a suggestion to suspend individuals who had not voted in the past three elections and require them to revalidate their registration. “One suggestion from this review was to strengthen collaboration with other agencies such as NIMC and NPC to identify deceased persons in the register and remove them. In addition, the commission could suspend individuals who have not voted in the past three elections from the register and request them to revalidate their registration,” INEC stated in its report.