A former national commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has described the country’s current voters’ register as opaque and lacking credibility ahead of the 2027 general elections, while insisting the country has no choice but to use it.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Okoye said the existing register could not be considered genuine or clean enough to inspire full public confidence.
“I think that our voters’ register as presently constituted is opaque and cannot be said to be a clean voters’ register. It cannot be said to be a genuine voters’ register that we can go into an election with,” he said.
Despite his strong reservations, Okoye argued that time constraints left no realistic option but to proceed with the current list for the 2027 polls.
“But the truth of the matter is that there is nothing we can do now. We have to go into the election with this current voters’ register and immediately after the election, we should have a new biometric voters’ register,” he added.
Okoye called for a fresh biometric registration exercise to begin immediately after the 2027 elections to restore integrity to the process. His comments come amid ongoing debates over electoral reforms and efforts to rebuild public trust in INEC’s preparations.
