The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan, has called on civil society groups, community leaders, the media, and citizens nationwide to support the Commission as it opens the Claims and Objections window for the first phase of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on December 15.
He warned that Nigeria’s democracy cannot gain credibility or maturity if the national voters’ register remains filled with the names of people who have died, moved, or are otherwise ineligible.
Professor Amupitan made the appeal in Abuja on Thursday, 11th December, 2025, at the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room’s Stakeholders’ Forum on Elections, where he delivered an extensive and soul-searching address on the state of the nation’s democracy, the challenges of election management, and the critical roles played by CSOs, political actors, security agencies, and citizens.
The INEC Chairman, barely two months in office and attending the forum on a day originally slated for the Commission’s weekly meeting, said he considered his presence a duty to the nation.
He emphasised that the upcoming phase of Claims and Objections is decisive for strengthening the integrity of Nigeria’s voters’ register, describing it as “a task the Commission cannot accomplish alone.”
He expressed concern that many Nigerians do not review the public display of the provisional register, allowing errors, duplications, and names of deceased persons to go unreported.
Citing his discovery during the Anambra governorship election preparations, where a prominent leader who died during the 2020 lockdown still appeared on the register, he said such lapses erode trust in the electoral process and damage Nigeria’s democratic credibility.
The INEC Chairman therefore, urged citizens to take the exercise seriously, stating that the public must help identify names that should be removed, errors that require correction, and omissions that need to be fixed.
“If we cannot clean up our register, we cannot claim credibility,” he said. “We need CSOs, community leaders, and the Media to mobilise Nigerians to examine the lists. INEC cannot do it alone.”
Professor Amupitan explained that Phase 1 of the CVR, which began on 18 August and concluded on December 10, recorded a nationwide total of 2,685,725 registrations. Of this figure, 1,576,137 completed their registration online, while 1,109,588 completed the process through physical capture.
He praised the rising political awareness reflected in the numbers, noting that states such as Osun, Kano, Sokoto, Imo, Borno, and Lagos are leading the pack in registration turnout.
To further deepen inclusivity and ease access, the Commission will begin Phase 2 of the registration exercise on January 5, 2026, relocating many registration centres closer to registration areas and hard-to-reach communities.
He said this decision emerged from field assessments showing that distance and poor accessibility hindered turnout in many locations.
Professor Amupitan also detailed the Commission’s preparations for the FCT Area Council election scheduled for February 21, 2026, describing it as one of the Commission’s most sensitive assignments because INEC is solely responsible for local government–level elections in the FCT.
He noted that all information and timelines are already available on the Commission’s platforms and that further discussions on logistics and security will continue.