INEC Debunks Claims of Manipulated Voter Pre-Registration Data, Says Osun’s Numbers Consistent with History‎‎

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed as misleading claims by a political party that the number of online pre-registrants in Osun State “defies historical patterns and demographic realities.”
‎
‎By Chimezie Godfrey
‎
‎The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed as misleading claims by a political party that the number of online pre-registrants in Osun State “defies historical patterns and demographic realities.”
‎
‎Reacting to the allegations on Thursday, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, described the assertions as “baseless and easily verifiable falsehood.”
‎
‎According to him, “Nothing can be further from the truth. If the party were proactive enough, a simple search of past records already in the public domain would have revealed these facts.”
‎
‎INEC explained that the pattern in Osun is not unusual, recalling that in 2021, when the Commission first launched online pre-registration, the state consistently led others in the exercise.
‎
‎Oyekanmi said: “Within the first 24 hours of launching the portal on 28th June 2021, 59,331 accounts were created. By the second week, Osun was leading with 154,893 pre-registrations. By April 2022, the state had recorded over 708,000 – the highest in the country. The current trend is only a continuation of that historical pattern.”
‎
‎Providing fresh data, the Commission noted that between August 18 and 24, 2025, a total of 1,379,342 Nigerians pre-registered online, with Osun State topping at 393,269, followed by Lagos (222,205) and the FCT (107,682).
‎
‎The electoral body stressed that beyond pre-registration, every applicant must still undergo physical verification and biometric capture, while duplicate entries are eliminated through its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).
‎
‎“Throughout the last CVR exercise which lasted over four quarters, the Commission paused after each quarter to display the preliminary voters’ register for claims and objections,” Oyekanmi recalled. “After all the processes and due diligence, over 9.4 million new voters were added to the register for the 2023 General Election.”
‎
‎INEC maintained that its responsibility is to ensure that only qualified citizens, as provided in the Constitution and Electoral Act, are registered, not to speculate on why one state records more registrants than another.
‎
‎The Commission assured Nigerians that it will continue to release authentic and verifiable data on the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), while urging political actors to avoid conjecture and misinformation.
‎
‎
‎