By Balarabe Oshiafi
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed concerns raised by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) over what the party described as “statistically implausible” voter registration figures in Osun State, insisting that the numbers are consistent with past trends.
The ADC had on Wednesday warned that Nigeria’s 2027 general elections could be compromised if the registration figures recently released by INEC are not urgently addressed.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party argued that Osun’s figures defied both “historical patterns and demographic realities,” citing the Commission’s own data which showed that the state recorded 393,269 pre-registrations in just one week, higher than the 275,815 new voters recorded in the state over the entire four-year period between 2019 and 2023.
Reacting on Thursday in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Commission described the claim as “nothing further from the truth.”
The Commission explained that it rolled out the online pre-registration of voters on August 18, 2025, followed by in-person registration on August 25, 2025. According to the data released for the first week, a total of 1,379,342 Nigerians pre-registered online. Osun State recorded the highest number with 393,269, followed by Lagos with 222,205, while the Federal Capital Territory came third
INEC insisted that Osun’s lead was not unusual, recalling a similar pattern during the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
“Within the first 24 hours of launching the portal on 28th June 2021, 59,331 accounts were created. By the second week on 12th July 2021, a total of 456,909 accounts were active. Interestingly, Osun state led with 154,893 pre-registrations at the time,” the Commission stated.
It further noted that by the eighth week of the 2021 exercise, Osun still topped the chart with 365,412 registrations out of over 2.2 million nationwide. By September 2021, Osun maintained its lead with 402,619, and by April 2022, the state had the highest total of 708,782 pre-registrants.
INEC stressed that the facts are publicly available and could have been verified before the allegation was made. “If the party were proactive enough, a simple search of past records already in the public domain would have revealed these facts,” Oyekanmi said.
The Commission also reaffirmed the integrity of its voter registration system. “Throughout the last CVR exercise, the Commission paused after each quarter to display the preliminary voters’ register for claims and objections, to enable citizens draw attention to any individual not qualified to be on the register. At the same time, the Commission applied its robust Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) to detect and isolate double registrants,” it explained.
According to INEC, these measures added over 14 million new voters to the National Register for the 2019 general elections, increasing the roll from nearly 70 million to 84,004,084. Similarly, after the 2021/2022 CVR, 9.4 million new voters were added, raising the total to 93,469,008 for the 2023 general elections.
