A former national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has said the commission has no choice but to use the current voter register for the 2027 general elections despite concerns over its credibility. 

Mr Okoye stated this on Tuesday in Abuja. 

He said the voter register as presently

constituted was not transparent and cannot be described as clean or genuine. 

“I think that our voter register as presently constituted is opaque and cannot be said to be a genuine voter register,” he said.

He, however, said Nigeria has to go into the election with the current voter register as there was nothing that could be done about it before the election. 

He stated that Nigeria must compile a completely new biometric voter register immediately after the 2027 general elections. 

He added, “The truth of the matter is that there is nothing we can do now, we have to go into the election with this current one and immediately after the conduct of the election, Nigeria must have a new biometric voters’ register.”

Mr Okoye’s statement trailed the commission’s admission of irregularities by 54 staff members across 10 states during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.