Lagos State has retained its position as Nigeria’s largest voting bloc, with 7.49 million registered voters, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) began the 100-day countdown to the 2027 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a world press conference on the commission’s preparations for the elections scheduled for January 16 and February 6, 2027.
The national voter register currently stands at 103,428,715 registered voters, with the North-West geopolitical zone accounting for the largest share at 25.08 million.
Lagos is followed by Kano State with 6.57 million registered voters and Kaduna with 4.66 million.
Katsina ranks fourth with 3.88 million voters, followed by Rivers with 3.74 million, Oyo with 3.59 million, Delta with 3.53 million, Benue with 3.06 million, Ogun with 3.04 million and Bauchi with 3.01 million.
At the other end of the register, Ekiti has the fewest registered voters with 1.06 million, followed by Bayelsa with 1.20 million.
The Federal Capital Territory has 1.73 million registered voters, while Ondo has 1.74 million and Gombe 1.77 million.
North-West remains largest voting zone
The North-West has 25,083,411 registered voters, making it the largest of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
It is followed by the South-West with 19,614,274 voters and the North-Central with 16,965,787.
The South-South has 15,823,550 registered voters, the North-East 13,965,475 and the South-East 11,976,218.
The North-West therefore has about 5.47 million more registered voters than the South-West.
The demographic composition of the register shows that men account for 53,528,218 voters, or 51.75 per cent, while women account for 49,900,497, representing 48.25 per cent.
Voters aged between 35 and 49 constitute the largest age group, with 43,265,946 registered voters, representing 41.83 per cent of the register.
They are followed by voters aged 18 to 34, numbering 29,777,576, or 28.79 per cent.
Those aged between 50 and 69 account for 22,982,900 voters, representing 22.22 per cent, while voters aged 70 and above number 7,402,291, or 7.16 per cent.
INEC also recorded 232,658 persons with disabilities across 10 categories, representing about 0.23 per cent of the register.
Voter register opens for public scrutiny
INEC said the voter register would be displayed nationwide from October 9 to 15, 2026, allowing citizens to verify their details and raise objections in line with Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026.
The exercise forms part of the commission’s final preparations as it moves towards the two-phase elections.
Amupitan said INEC had completed nine of the 14 critical milestones contained in its revised timetable and schedule of activities.
He said the statutory timetable had been translated into an operational plan covering INEC headquarters, departments and directorates, its 36 state offices, the Federal Capital Territory and offices across the 774 local government areas.
INEC deploys AI against election misinformation
Technology and misinformation emerged as major issues in INEC’s preparations, with the commission establishing a dedicated Artificial Intelligence Division within its ICT Department.
The division is expected to help identify anomalies in election results and counter increasingly sophisticated forms of election-related misinformation.
Amupitan said automated AI auditing tools had already been integrated into INEC’s results-verification process under a five-pillar AI governance framework, with human oversight built into the system.
The commission is also finalising an AI governance policy and working with international technology partners to strengthen its anomaly-detection capabilities.
INEC expressed concern over the growing use of generative artificial intelligence, voice cloning and deepfake videos to fabricate statements by election officials, result sheets and other official documents.
Amupitan warned that convincing fabricated content could undermine public confidence in legitimate information issued by constitutional authorities.
He urged journalists to verify election-related material and use digital forensic tools where necessary.
The INEC chairman also warned media organisations against publishing privately collated results or premature declarations, stressing that the authority to declare election results rests with the commission.
INEC prepares 57,000 BVAS devices
INEC is also upgrading its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and conducting nationwide audits and stress tests ahead of the elections.
A nationwide mock accreditation exercise is scheduled for November.
The commission expects to deploy 57,000 newly procured BVAS devices for voter accreditation and other election-related processes.
INEC also plans to establish a situation room for real-time monitoring before, during and after the elections.
Training and technical support for election officials will continue through the election period.
Police activate security preparations
Security agencies are also stepping up preparations, with the Nigeria Police Force saying it has activated operational and tactical assets to address potential threats ahead of the elections.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, was represented at the briefing by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Police Mobile Force, Alinyenu Idu.
Idu said security planning would cover the entire electoral process, including polling units, movement of election materials, collation centres and the final declaration of results.
He said the police were working with other security agencies to stabilise areas facing security challenges and ensure that voters could participate freely.
Clearance operations are ongoing in parts of Kogi, Niger, Benue and Taraba states, according to the police.
The Force plans to review its election security preparations by November and provide a comprehensive update by the end of December.
EU to deploy election observation mission
The European Union has also pledged continued support for Nigeria’s electoral process.
EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, said the bloc would deploy another electoral observation mission to Nigeria to monitor preparations, the conduct of the elections and their immediate aftermath.
The mission will build on recommendations from the EU’s 2023 Electoral Observation Mission.
Mignot urged political parties, candidates, security agencies, the media, civil society organisations and voters to contribute to peaceful and credible elections.
He also highlighted the need to counter misinformation and ensure that women and persons with disabilities are able to participate fully in the electoral process.
Senate pledges legislative support
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Senator Simon Lalong, said the National Assembly remained committed to strengthening Nigeria’s electoral framework and democratic institutions.
He described electoral credibility as a collective responsibility involving INEC, political parties, candidates, security agencies, the media, civil society organisations and voters.
Lalong urged political parties and candidates to comply with electoral rules, campaign on issues and conduct themselves peacefully.
He also called on the media to maintain accurate, balanced and responsible reporting during the election cycle.
INEC reviews Supreme Court judgment
INEC is simultaneously reviewing the implications of a recent Supreme Court judgment concerning provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
Amupitan said the commission had received complaints from political parties, aggrieved aspirants and the National Assembly concerning the Supreme Court’s September 24, 2026 judgment in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party.
According to him, the judgment affirmed the constitutionality of Section 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act 2026 and upheld INEC’s revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections.
“We only received the certified true copy of this judgment this morning, and it is being reviewed,” Amupitan said.
The review is expected to help the commission ensure that its preparations remain aligned with the latest legal position.
INEC to deploy 1.4m ad hoc personnel
INEC also plans to deploy 1,414,768 ad hoc personnel for the two phases of the 2027 elections.
Of this number, 707,384 personnel will be deployed for the presidential and National Assembly elections on January 16, 2027, with the same number required for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on February 6.
The planned deployment represents an increase from the approximately 1.2 million ad hoc personnel engaged during the 2023 general elections.
The personnel will be deployed across 176,846 polling units nationwide.
With 100 days remaining before the presidential and National Assembly elections, INEC’s immediate priorities include completing the remaining milestones in its election timetable, opening the voter register for public scrutiny, testing election technology, strengthening security coordination and training the personnel required to conduct the polls.
The scale of the 2027 election operation — from a 103.4 million-voter register and 176,846 polling units to more than 1.4 million ad hoc personnel — places significant operational demands on INEC and the agencies supporting the electoral proces