The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed allegations by a political party suggesting that the volume of online pre-registrations recorded in Osun State defies “historical patterns and demographic realities.”
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, in a statement yesterday, described the claim as misleading and inconsistent with the Commission’s historical data on voter registration.
INEC had rolled out the online pre-registration portal on 18 August 2025, followed by in-person registration on 25 August 2025. Between 18 and 24 August, a total of 1,379,342 Nigerians pre-registered online, with Osun State leading (393,269), followed by Lagos (222,205) and the Federal Capital Territory (107,682).
Oyekanmi explained that Osun’s current figures mirror previous trends, particularly during the 2021–2022 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise. For instance, within the first two weeks of the 2021 CVR, Osun topped the chart with 154,893 pre-registrations, and by April 2022, it had recorded 708,782 pre-registrants—the highest nationwide.
He stressed that the Commission had always been transparent in publishing weekly updates during past exercises, while also deploying its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) to detect and eliminate multiple or fake registrations.
According to him, “Throughout the last CVR exercise, the Commission displayed preliminary registers for claims and objections, while applying technology to ensure only genuine registrants were captured. After due diligence, over 14 million Nigerians were added ahead of the 2019 elections, and another 9.4 million ahead of the 2023 elections.”
Oyekanmi further noted that INEC’s mandate is not to speculate on why some states record higher numbers than others but to guarantee that only eligible Nigerians, as defined by the Constitution and the Electoral Act, are allowed to register.
He urged political parties and stakeholders to avoid speculation and rely instead on verifiable data available from INEC’s official records.
“INEC will continue to keep Nigerians informed on the progress of both the ongoing online and in-person registration,” he assured