INEC ends voter registration today amid opposition calls for extension

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise will end today, despite calls by opposition political parties and civil society organisations for an extension to allow more eligible Nigerians to register ahead of the 2027 general elections.

 

In a notice posted on its X handle on Saturday, the electoral body urged eligible Nigerians yet to register to take advantage of the remaining hours before the exercise closes.

 

“Your future won’t wait. Neither should you. The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise ends Sunday, 26 July 2026,” the commission stated.

 

INEC said registration centres nationwide would remain open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., while prospective voters could also complete their registration through the commission’s online portal.

 

INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, ruled out any extension, explaining that the commission must begin processing the data collected.

 

“By midnight on Sunday, voter registration ends. There won’t be any extension. There are so many things that we need to do at the back end. We have to draw a line; otherwise, we won’t be able to produce a clean copy,” he said.

 

Haruna said the commission would deploy its Automated Biometric Identification System to detect and eliminate multiple registrations before displaying the provisional voters’ register for claims and objections.

 

He added that the final number of newly registered voters would only be known after the data-cleaning and verification process.

 

According to INEC, 2,970,257 eligible Nigerians had completed registration as of July 17, with 970,865 registrations completed online and 2,000,092 captured physically.

 

The commission said women accounted for 52.57 per cent of the new registrants, while 67.43 per cent were between the ages of 18 and 34. Students constituted the largest occupational group, followed by business owners, farmers and fishermen.

 

Kano recorded the highest number of new registrations with 234,305, followed by Lagos and Edo states.

 

Despite the commission’s position, opposition parties urged INEC to extend the exercise.

 

African Democratic Congress (ADC) National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, argued that voter registration should not be restricted to fixed timelines.

 

Similarly, Labour Party National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said the exercise should remain open to accommodate more eligible Nigerians, including those who would attain voting age before the elections.

 

“The name of the exercise is Continuous Voter Registration… Millions of Nigerians will turn 18 by December. Are they saying those people should not register?” he said.

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also backed an extension, saying many Nigerians remained reluctant to register because of declining confidence in the electoral process.

 

President of Women Arise for Change Initiative, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, said extending the exercise would deepen democratic participation, while BallotEyes Working Group Chairman, Olasupo Abideen, described the closure as premature.

 

Executive Director of the Socio-Economic and Civic Rights Advocacy, Emmanuel Olowu, questioned why the exercise was ending about six months before the elections when the Electoral Act allows voter registration to continue until no later than 90 days before polling.

 

However, Yiaga Africa Executive Director, Samson Itodo, defended INEC’s decision, saying the commission was acting within the provisions of the Electoral Act and its election timetable.

 

He noted that INEC requires adequate time to clean the voters’ register, resolve claims and objections, remove duplicate entries and complete other pre-election preparations, while urging the commission to make voter registration genuinely continuous outside election periods.