The Independent National Electoral Commission has begun the 100-day countdown to the 2027 general elections, with 103,428,715 registered voters on the electoral register.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, announced this on Tuesday at a world press conference in Abuja saying the commission had completed nine of 14 key milestones in its revised election timetable. The presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on January 16, 2027 while Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will follow on February 6.
Lagos has the highest number of registered voters with 7,488,633. Kano follows with 6,570,276, while Kaduna has 4,662,640. Ekiti has the lowest figure with 1,055,708 registered voters.
The North-West leads the six geopolitical zones with 25,083,411 voters. The South-West follows with 19,614,274, while the North-Central has 16,965,787.
Male voters account for 51.75 per cent of the register. Female voters make up 48.25 per cent.
Voters aged 35 to 49 form the largest age group. They account for 41.83 per cent of registered voters.
INEC will display the voter register nationwide from October 9 to 15 for public scrutiny.
Amupitan raised concerns about the use of artificial intelligence, voice cloning and deepfake videos to spread false election information.
He said INEC had integrated AI auditing tools into its results verification process and the system will operate under mandatory human oversight.
The chairman urged journalists to verify election information before publication and also warned media organisations against publishing privately collated results or premature declarations.
INEC will deploy 57,000 newly procured Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices for the elections and the commission will also conduct a nationwide mock accreditation exercise in November.
Meanwhile, The Nigeria Police Force said it would strengthen security operations ahead of the elections and protect voters, election materials and collation centres.
The police have started clearance operations in parts of Kogi, Niger, Benue and Taraba states while the European Union pledged continued support for Nigeria’s electoral process. It also plans to deploy an election observation mission for the 2027 polls.
INEC will engage 1,414,768 ad hoc personnel for the two phases of the elections.
The commission will deploy 707,384 personnel for each phase across 176,846 polling units nationwide.
Amupitan said INEC would focus on completing its remaining milestones, testing election technology, strengthening security coordination and training personnel as the polls approach.
