The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Friday, October 9, 2026, for commencement of distribution and collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Monday at a Strategic Workshop for Editors in Abuja.
Amupitan, said the decision followed the conclusion of the three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which attracted more than 10.6 million new registrants.
He said the development had increased Nigeria’s national register of voters to more than 103 million.
According to him, the first phase of the CVR, conducted between August and December 10, 2025, recorded 2,611,266 registered voters. The second phase, which ran from January to April 2026, added 4,121,835 voters, while the third phase recorded 3,867,997 new registrants.
As part of preparations for the 2027 election, the INEC chairman also disclosed that the Commission had commenced a comprehensive nationwide zonal readiness assessment across the six geopolitical zones.
He said the Commission had successfully completed physical readiness audits and staff engagements in the South-West and North-West zones, auditing state office facilities, safe storage facilities, security command protocols and logistics deployment networks.
Amupitan warned that INEC would take an uncompromising position against vote-buying in all forms ahead of the 2027 elections, adding that the Commission was strengthening collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice, EFCC, ICPC and NFIU to track illegal campaign spending and conduct surveillance at polling units nationwide.
He warned political actors and their agents against offering cash or material inducements to voters, saying anyone caught attempting to buy votes would be arrested and prosecuted under the Electoral Act 2026.
The INEC chairman further warned that the Commission would not allow political competition to degenerate into violence, intimidation or inflammatory rhetoric, stressing that INEC had no preferred political party or candidate and was committed only to conducting free, fair, transparent and credible elections.