Inec violate electoral law as dem neva publish voters register ontop dia website ahead of 2027 election?

Nigeria Indepenednt National Electoral Commission (Inec) don come unda ogbonge pressure and criticism sake of dia alleged failure to publish di voters register in accordance wit di Electoral Act 2026 as amended.

Opposition figures and civil society don chook mouth for di mata as dem claim say Inec dey break di law wey suppose guide di electoral process for Nigeria.

One of di ogbonge voices na former Vice President Abubakar Atiku who im tok-tok pesin Phrank Shaibu claim say di development fit make pipo start to dey suspect weda foul play don enta di voter register.

So wetin di law tok about dis and shey di electoral commission dey disobey di same Act wey suppose guide dia operations?

Section 19 (1) of di Eletoral Act tok say: "Di Commission shall, not later dan 90 days to a general election, appoint a period of seven days during which a copy of di voters' register for each Local Government, Area Council or Ward shall be displayed or published for public scrutiny for evri registration area and for dia official website or any website established by di Commission for dat purpose".

Dis Friday, 23 October 2026 na exactly 85 days to di 2027 general election, wey according to di Inec election timetable, go hold on 16 January 2027.

Rememba say on 6 October 2026, Inec National Chairman, Joash Amupitan, announce say dem don complete di three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise and final biometric cleanup.

Na based on di completion of di exercise na im Amupitan tok say di total numba of voters for di national voters' register na 103 million, including di more dan 10.7 million new pipo wey register.

For dat same event, Amupitan promise say Inec go publish di voters register from 9 to 15 October, 2026, so dat di general public go fit chook am eye and point out if any errors dey inside.

Howeva, Inec reports bin come out for di local media say Inec no publish di voters register for some of di local govment areas wey tori pipo bin visit.

Howeva, di commission issue statement to tok say di reports na lie and say dem publish di voters registers.

Inec violate Electoral Act?

But di oda side of it, wey be say Inec must also publish di voters register for dia own official website or any oda dedicated website wey dem set up for dat purpose, dat part of di law neva dey obeyed even as at di time of dis report.

BBC News Pidgin tori pesin check di Inec portal but di message dia na: "Dis is di official online display of di preliminary register of voters for di INEC Website based on di recently concluded registration exercises. Dia are currently no preliminary registers to display. Please check back later."

Festus Okoye, wey serve as di immediate past director of Voter Education and tok-tok pesin for Inec, tok say dis action na violation of di law and consequences suppose dey.

Okoye explain say provision 19(1) of di electoral act use di word 'shall', wey mean say e dey mandatory for Inec to do am, no be if dem chose.

E explain say majority of di young pipo wey newly register to vote na internet savy pipo wey fit prefer to check for dia details online instead of going physically to dia local govment areas and wards to manually check.

"If you check di voters register for di 2023 elections, di numba of di youths betwin di ages of 18 and 34 na 37 million, but for dis current register wey dem release, dia numba drop to 29 million, so I for like see di register make I know di reason for dis drop," oga Okoye tok for one TV interview.

Wetin be di consequences?

Section 19(5) of di electoral act tok say: Official or staff of di Commission, wey fail to display or publish di voters' register as provided unda subsection (1), e don commit offence and e dey liable on conviction to fine of N100,000 or imprisonment for a term of six months or both.

For Festus Okoye, e point out say di electoral act give powers to legal officers of Inec to prosecute offences against di act, but for dis case, na di same Inec dey violate di act.

"You cannot ask Inec to prosecute diasef, di only way to get out of dis quagmire na for us to get electoral offences commission wey go take charge of investigation, arrest and prosecution of electoral offenders, oda dan dat you no fit ask Inec to investigate diasef, arrest diasef and prosecute diasef," Okoye tok.

Inec neva publicly explain why di voters register neva dey published for dia website or on top any of dia social media handles, howeva dia current tok-tok pesin Haruna Mohammed tell local tori pipo say dem dey try to get clean copy of di register wey dem go now publish.

Di BBC don also reach out to di commission for comment.