The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has announced the indefinite postponement of its earlier scheduled nationwide voter re-validation.
According to a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the Commission’s Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, “the Commission resolved to postpone the exercise until after the 2027 General Election.”
INEC announced that the decision was part of the decision reached at a meeting the management of the commission held with the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners on Friday.
Explaining the latest twist to its earlier hardline posture of the voter revalidation, the commission noted that “The voter revalidation exercise is a critical component of the Commission’s mandate to maintain a credible and up-to-date National Register of Voters. It is designed to verify and review existing voter records, ensure the accuracy of personal data, eliminate duplicate and ineligible entries, and strengthen the overall integrity of the voter register. The exercise also aims to provide an opportunity for registered voters to confirm their details and make necessary corrections where required.”
There have been outcry from civil society organisations (CSOs), political parties and opinion leaders who posit that the decision of INEC to embark on re-validating over 90 million registered voters was a distraction from the commission’s main duty of focusing on conducting a credible elections in 2027.
