The Independent National Electoral Commission has insisted that the Continuous Voter Registration exercise ends today (Sunday) despite calls by some opposition political parties and civil society organizations for an extension over concerns that millions of citizens could be excluded from the 2027 general elections.
Sunday PUNCH reports that the opposition parties and CSOs demanded that the exercise be extended to allow more eligible Nigerians to register, while INEC urged those yet to register to take advantage of the remaining hours before the registration window closes.
In a notice issued on its X handle on Saturday, the commission said the exercise would end today, July 26, with designated registration centres open from 9am to 3pm.
“Your future won’t wait. Neither should you. The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise ends Sunday, 26 July 2026,” the commission stated.
INEC also reminded prospective voters that they could complete the registration process online through its dedicated CVR portal or visit designated INEC offices and registration centres nationwide for physical assistance.
The new Electoral Act stipulates that INEC is required to stop voter registration, updating and revision of the voters’ register 90 days before an election to allow for data clean-up, the printing of Permanent Voter Cards and other logistical preparations.
The law also requires the commission to display the voters’ register for claims and objections within the stipulated period to enable eligible Nigerians to challenge omissions and errors and help ensure the credibility of the final register for the polls.
The INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, told Sunday PUNCH that the commission would not extend the deadline, stressing that the registration exercise had to close to allow the electoral body to begin cleaning the data already 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 of what has been posted,” he said.
Haruna explained that the commission’s Information Technology team and the Voter Registration Department would begin processing the data immediately after the closure of the registration window.
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He said INEC would deploy its Automated Biometric Identification System to detect and remove multiple registrations before the provisional voters’ register is displayed for public scrutiny.
“We have this automatic biometric system that will check whether somebody has registered more than once. They will publish the register for claims and objections. That is, if anybody thinks a name shouldn’t be on the register, or if he has some claims, for instance, that his name has been omitted or some of his details are incorrect,” he said.
According to him, the final number of newly registered voters would only be known after the biometric verification and the claims and objections process.
“So, it’s after all that has been done that we will have a final figure, which we will now add to the existing 93 million or so. That will then become the voters’ register. We are mandated to give every political party a copy ahead of the election,” Haruna added.
Responding to concerns over the number of Nigerians who may be excluded from the 2027 electoral process by the closure, the national commissioner said INEC could only account for eligible citizens who presented themselves for registration.
He added that the commission had recorded registrations through its online platform, physical registration centres and INEC offices across the 774 local government areas.
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Dayo Oketola, also said the decision to end the Continuous Voter Registration exercise was in line with constitutional and legal provisions and necessary to pave the way for preparations ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said there was no unusual pressure on the registration portal, stressing that the system was built to accommodate the volume of applicants throughout the exercise.
Oketola dismissed concerns that the closure of the registration exercise would disenfranchise eligible Nigerians, noting that the exercise had already been extended to ensure all interested voters had ample opportunity to register.
He noted that the commission embarked on extensive nationwide voter education and awareness campaigns to encourage participation.
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