INEC's own figures put 2027 voter registration at 10,399,288 in all, not 9.3 million young people; the 10.18 million total uses a November count for phase one

Channels Television reported this week that "over 9.3 million young Nigerians have registered to vote" ahead of the 2027 general election. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise closed on Sunday, 26 July 2026, and has warned the public against a fake registration website that claimed the deadline was 17 August. Vero Record set the published totals against the INEC documents it could retrieve: two press releases issued as images on inecnigeria.org, a weekly state table, and the text of two speeches by the INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, all read from Wayback Machine captures of the commission's old website.

The INEC record does not support 9.3 million young registrants. The largest total reported from INEC's own figures for all three phases of the exercise is 10,399,288 completed registrations. The only age breakdown reported from INEC data in this cycle puts registrants aged 18 to 34 at 67.43 per cent. Applied to 10,399,288, that share gives about 7.01 million young registrants. For 9.3 million to be correct, 89.4 per cent of everyone registered would have to be under 35. Vero Record could not retrieve the Channels report itself, so it cannot say how the 9.3 million was derived or whether it referred to something other than completed registrations.

The first INEC document is a press release headed "End of First Quarter CVR and Commencement of Display for Claims and Objections", signed by Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi, Director of Voter Education and Publicity, and dated 3 December 2025. It says that at the end of the 13th week, 9,891,801 online pre-registrations had been received and "2,572,054 registrations have been fully completed, including 1,503,832 online completions and 1,068,222 physical registrations as of November 28, 2025." The two parts add to the total. The release also says the first phase would close on Wednesday, 10 December 2025.

The second document is Professor Amupitan's address to political parties on Thursday, 5 February 2026, published on inecnigeria.org. It gives a higher figure for the same phase: "In the first phase of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercise conducted from 18th August to 10th December 2025, the Commission registered a total of 2,782,587 eligible voters." The difference, 210,533, is what was added in the 12 days between 28 November and 10 December, an average of about 17,544 a day. The two INEC figures do not contradict each other; they describe the same phase at different dates.

That difference explains why two national totals are in circulation. The Sun, under the headline "New voters hit 10.18m as INEC ends CVR exercise", added 2,572,054 for the first phase to 3,748,704 for the second and 3,867,997 for the third, which gives 10,188,755. Other reports, including The Gazette, gave 10,399,288, which is 2,782,587 plus the same two later figures. The gap between the two totals is exactly 210,533. The 10.18 million total uses the interim week 13 figure for the first phase in place of the Chairman's final one; on INEC's own figures the larger total is the complete one.

The phase two and phase three figures could not be checked against an INEC document. INEC published its weekly CVR tables as images, and the inecnigeria.org pages that carried them now return errors or have been replaced by a new site that does not list them. The Wayback Machine holds the page for phase two, week 10, but not its three images. The figures used here are those that several outlets attribute to INEC: 3,748,704 completed in phase two (5 January to 17 April 2026), and 3,867,997 in phase three (4 May to 26 July 2026), made up of 1,170,134 online and 2,697,863 physical registrations. Those two parts do add to 3,867,997.

The same caution applies to the age and sex figures. Leadership reported INEC data for 2,970,957 new registrants: 2,003,183 aged 18 to 34 (67.43 per cent), 645,651 aged 35 to 49, 294,440 aged 50 to 69 and 27,680 aged 70 and over, with 1,561,765 women and 1,409,192 men. The sex figures add to 2,970,957; the four age bands add to 2,970,954, three fewer, which may be a transcription error in the report. The report does not say which phase or week the 2,970,957 covers, and Vero Record did not find the INEC table it came from. Earlier, in September 2025, INEC National Commissioner Sam Olumekun was reported as putting young people at 74.64 per cent of completed registrations at that stage. Neither share comes close to the 89 per cent that 9.3 million would require.

A third INEC document gives the exercise a different end date from the one the Chairman gave in February. In his 5 February address, and again in a speech to Resident Electoral Commissioners on 25 February 2026, Professor Amupitan said: "The entire CVR exercise is scheduled to span one year and will be concluded on 30th August 2026." A press release dated 3 July 2026, signed by National Commissioner Mohammed Kudu Haruna, says the exercise "was originally scheduled to conclude on 10th July 2026" and announces a two-week extension to Sunday, 26 July 2026. The 3 July release does not mention 30 August, and Vero Record found no INEC document explaining when or why the planned end moved from 30 August to 10 July, 51 days earlier.

The record supports INEC on the point of its warning about the fake site. The deadline it set, 26 July, fell 35 days before the 30 August date the Chairman had announced, so a citizen who remembered the February speeches could have believed registration was still open in August. INEC has said only cvr.inecnigeria.org is its official registration portal. The 3 July release also introduced a self-service online option for first-time registrants from 8 July, which ran for the last 19 days of the exercise.

On the size of the register, the figure INEC used for the 2023 general election was 93,469,008. Adding 10,399,288 would give 103,868,296, which is the basis of reports that the 2027 register could exceed 100 million. That is not an INEC figure for the 2027 register. New registrations are checked by the Automated Biometric Identification System for duplicates, and in February the Chairman told parties that double registration "is a violation of the law" and that offenders would be removed. In the same address he said the Commission would "soon embark on a nationwide Voter Revalidation Exercise". The number of valid new registrants, the number removed, and the size of the certified 2027 register had not been published in any INEC document Vero Record found by 4 October 2026.

State and collection figures are also unchecked. The Sun listed Kano (330,906), Lagos (181,254) and Delta (166,895) as leading phase three, followed by Edo (156,150) and Sokoto (145,160); in the same list it gave Ebonyi 146,507, which is more than Sokoto, so the order in the report does not match its own numbers. INEC's state table for the first week of phase two, as at 9 January 2026, shows 18,193 completed registrations (12,022 online and 6,171 physical), with Sokoto (2,294), Jigawa (1,517) and Kano (1,509) highest and none in the FCT, where registration was suspended for the Area Council election. Vero Record found no national figure for Permanent Voter Card collection ahead of 2027.

In short, the INEC documents support a total of about 10.4 million completed registrations across the three phases, subject to the clean-up INEC has said it will carry out, and they explain why 10.18 million also circulates. They do not support 9.3 million young registrants. INEC was not asked for comment for this report, and Channels Television's report was not retrieved.

What this rests on

INEC documents retrieved and read on 4 October 2026 from Wayback Machine captures of the old inecnigeria.org: press release 'End of First Quarter CVR and Commencement of Display for Claims and Objections', signed Victoria Eta-Messi, 3 December 2025 (image cvr-first-quater.jpg); remarks by INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan at the first regular consultative meeting with political parties, 5 February 2026, section 11; speech by the Chairman to RECs, 25 February 2026; press release 'Extension of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and Introduction of Self-Service Registration for First-Time Voters', signed Mohammed Kudu Haruna, 3 July 2026 (image CVR-EXTENSION-1.jpg); INEC table 'Phase II Week One, Completed Online & Physical Registration as at 9th January 2026' (week-1-phase-2.jpg). Phase two and three totals, the phase three online/physical split, and the age, sex and state figures come from press reports attributed to INEC (The Sun, Leadership, The Gazette, Arise), not from an INEC document. Arithmetic: 1,503,832 + 1,068,222 = 2,572,054; 2,782,587 - 2,572,054 = 210,533 over 12 days (28 Nov to 10 Dec 2025), 210,533 / 12 = 17,544 a day; 2,572,054 + 3,748,704 + 3,867,997 = 10,188,755; 2,782,587 + 3,748,704 + 3,867,997 = 10,399,288; 10,399,288 - 10,188,755 = 210,533; 1,170,134 + 2,697,863 = 3,867,997; age bands 2,003,183 + 645,651 + 294,440 + 27,680 = 2,970,954 against a printed 2,970,957; sex 1,561,765 + 1,409,192 = 2,970,957; 2,003,183 / 2,970,957 = 67.43 per cent; 67.43 per cent of 10,399,288 = 7,011,773 (of 10,188,755 = 6,869,820); 9,300,000 / 10,399,288 = 89.43 per cent (/ 10,188,755 = 91.28 per cent); 93,469,008 + 10,399,288 = 103,868,296; 26 July to 30 August 2026 = 35 days; 10 July to 30 August = 51 days; 8 July to 26 July inclusive = 19 days; phase two week one table 12,022 + 6,171 = 18,193.

What this does not establish

What Channels Television's 9.3 million figure measured or how it was derived; the report was not retrieved. INEC's own tables for phase two and phase three, and for the age, sex and state breakdowns, which were not found in retrievable form. Which phase or week Leadership's 2,970,957 covers. How many of the 10,399,288 registrations will survive the biometric clean-up, how many will be removed, and the size of the certified 2027 register. National PVC collection for 2027. When and why INEC moved the end of the exercise from 30 August 2026, as stated by the Chairman in February, to 10 July 2026, as stated in the 3 July release. Nothing in the documents suggests wrongdoing by INEC, Channels Television or any outlet, and none is alleged. INEC was not asked for comment.