INEC Sets October 9 for Nationwide PVC Collection As Registeration Crosses 103 Million

Oru Leonard 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has intensified preparations for the 2027 General Elections, with the Commission announcing that nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will commence on Friday, October 9, 2026.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a Strategic Workshop for Editors organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in collaboration with INEC.

The workshop, themed “Strengthening Democracy Through Partnership Among Editors, Civil Society and Electoral Institutions,” comes 101 days before the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027.
The Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6, 2027.

Amupitan said the timing of the workshop was deliberate, stressing that credible elections could not be achieved by the electoral commission alone but required sustained collaboration among INEC, the media, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.

According to him, “the ultimate arbiter of electoral integrity is public trust,” which must be built through transparency, accountability and continuous engagement.

He said INEC had successfully completed eight of the 14 major statutory activities contained in its revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 elections, issued on February 26, 2026.

The INEC chairman said the timetable had been translated into an operational plan covering the Commission’s 23 headquarters directorates, 36 state offices, the Federal Capital Territory and all 774 Local Government Area offices.

Amupitan disclosed that the three phases of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise produced more than 10.7 million new registrations, subject to final biometric verification.

He said Phase I, conducted between August 25 and December 10, 2025, registered 2,611,266 voters, while Phase II, held from January 5 to April 17, 2026, registered 4,121,835 voters.
Phase III, which ran from May 11 to July 26, 2026, recorded 3,867,997 registrations.

He added that the final Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup had been completed, pushing Nigeria’s National Register of Voters to more than 103 million.

According to him, INEC has also introduced online voter registration and printable PVC technology to reduce the difficulties associated with voter registration and card collection.
“More importantly, I am using this high-level forum of editors to officially remind the Nigerian public that the nationwide collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) will commence in exactly four days, on Friday, 9th October 2026,” he said.

He urged editors and media organisations to use their platforms to educate citizens on collection centres and encourage registered voters to collect their cards promptly.

INEC acquires 57,000 new BVAS
On technology, Amupitan said INEC had strengthened its electoral infrastructure ahead of the 2027 elections, including the acquisition of 57,000 new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices.

He said the BVAS infrastructure had undergone software hardening, battery optimisation and biometric calibration to improve performance and prevent accreditation manipulation.

The chairman also disclosed that the Commission had enhanced the eEC8A system to enable polling unit results to be digitised, authenticated and uploaded directly to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

He added that INEC was integrating artificial intelligence-driven anomaly detection tools into its systems to monitor database traffic and protect public portals against cyber intrusions and unauthorised alterations.

 

Amupitan also warned political parties, candidates and their agents against vote-buying ahead of the 2027 elections.

He said INEC was strengthening collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to monitor illegal campaign spending and financial inducement.

He said joint monitoring teams would be deployed to track illicit campaign financing and investigate vote-buying.
According to him, any attempt to induce voters with cash or material gifts would attract arrest and prosecution under the Electoral Act 2026.
“Elections must be decided by the conviction of the voter, not the depth of a candidate’s pocket,” he declared.

The INEC chairman further warned political actors against violence, intimidation and hate speech during the electioneering period.

He disclosed that the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) had activated an early-warning framework to monitor political violence, thuggery and inflammatory campaign rhetoric.

Amupitan said political parties and candidates found inciting violence or disrupting opponents’ campaigns would face statutory sanctions and prosecution.

He maintained that political competition should be based on ideas rather than violence.

Editors urged to combat disinformation
The INEC chairman urged editors to strengthen fact-checking and verification mechanisms in their newsrooms, warning that deepfakes, manipulated audio-visual materials, coordinated fake news and premature declaration of election results posed serious threats to electoral credibility.

He said misinformation could damage not only INEC but also public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic system.

Amupitan therefore proposed a three-point operational compact between INEC and the NGE, focusing on fact-checking and verification, protection of journalists and election responders, and a sustained editorial feedback mechanism.

He said INEC would provide editors with access to timely information for verification of field incidents, logistics and security reports.

He also pledged closer collaboration with ICCES to ensure that accredited journalists receive security protection and unhindered access to polling units and collation centres.

On sustained engagement, he proposed periodic meetings between the NGE leadership and INEC’s communication team to review operational developments and address emerging concerns before the 2027 elections.

Amupitan assured Nigerians that INEC remained committed to conducting free, fair, transparent and credible elections.

He said: “We have no preferred candidate, no preferred political party, and no agenda other than guaranteeing a free, fair, transparent, and credible election.”

He called on editors, civil society organisations and electoral institutions to work together to protect public trust and strengthen Nigeria’s democratic process ahead of the 2027 elections.