Former Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, has questioned how 1.5 million questionable voter records entered the Independent National Electoral Commission’s register, saying such irregularities ought not to occur.
Speaking during an interview with Arise News on Thursday alongside YIAGA Africa Executive Director, Samson Itodo, Osaze-Uzzi said technology should make voter registration easier to monitor, particularly as the law clearly defines eligibility requirements.
“I don’t know how up to 1.5 million people or entries can be made in the register. You’ve heard of AI, you’ve heard of multiple registrants. That ought not to be with things that have been put in place by the Commission,” he said.
Osaze-Uzzi, a former INEC Director of Legal Services, said the commission needed to explain whether its clean-up covered recent registrations or records dating back to 2011.
He identified multiple registrations as one possible source of the irregularities, adding that biometric checks could help identify individuals who registered more than once.
Itodo Calls For Independent Audit
Itodo said the voter register determines who participates in elections and must therefore contain only eligible voters.
He disclosed that YIAGA Africa’s audits of voter registers in Edo and Bayelsa states in 2018 identified duplicate registrations, deceased persons and underage voters.
“Our considered opinion at YIAGA Africa is that the impurities in the voters’ register are beyond the figures that you’ve ruled out. Beyond the two million, beyond the 1.5,” he said.
He called for an independent review of INEC’s latest clean-up, arguing that the commission’s findings should be subjected to public scrutiny to restore confidence ahead of the 2027 elections.
INEC Should Sanction Responsible Officers
Osaze-Uzzi said an independent review could involve civil society organisations, media representatives, political parties and technical experts, although he acknowledged possible legal concerns about external interference in INEC’s operations.
Itodo also called for sanctions against registration officers responsible for the questionable entries.
“The only way Nigerians can trust this process is if you have an independent body, you give them two weeks, they review this,” he said.
He added that INEC must publicly announce disciplinary actions taken against responsible officers, saying failure to do so would undermine public confidence.
Ademide Adebayo
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