Nigeria removes 1.6 million names from voter register

Nigeria's electoral body said it removed more than 1.6 million voter records from its register after finding irregularities just over two months before general elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission said most of the deleted records were invalid registrations, while a few hundred belonged to people confirmed to have died.

INEC said it had examined suspected multiple registrations, unusual registration patterns, substituted photographs and other irregularities in registration transactions. It did not say whether artificial intelligence had been used in the purged cases, after saying in October it would review the register following allegations that some names and photographs were AI-generated.

INEC chairman Joash Amupitan said 54 officials in 10 states had been identified as "complicit" in the irregularities and faced disciplinary action and possible prosecution. He said some registration staff deliberately bypassed procedures and misused provisions intended for exceptional cases, including for people with disabilities.

More than 103 million Nigerians are eligible to vote on January 16 for president and federal lawmakers. Elections for state governors and assembly members are due in February.

The vote will be a major test for INEC and Amupitan, who took office in October 2025, after years of distrust fuelled by allegations of electoral malpractice, technical failures and questions over credibility. Turnout in Nigeria's 2023 elections was 27 percent.