By Our Correspondent
\nLagos, Kano and Katsina States have emerged as the states with the highest number of registered voters ahead of the 2027 general election, accounting for a combined 17.9 million voters on the National Register of Voters.<\/p>\n
This is as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced that Nigeria\u2019s total number of registered voters now stands at 103.43 million, following the conclusion of three phases of Continuous Voter Registration, CVR.<\/p>\n
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash O. Amupitan, SAN, disclosed this on Tuesday at the World Press Conference and National Stakeholders\u2019 Meeting marking 100 Days to the 2027 General Election held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, ICC, in Abuja.<\/p>\n
According to Prof. Amupitan, Lagos leads with 7,488,633 registered voters, followed by Kano with 6,570,276 and Katsina with 3,876,051.<\/p>\n
Presenting the breakdown of the register, the INEC Chairman said the total registration from the three phases of the CVR was 10,772,421, after Automated Biometric Identification System, ABIS, verification.<\/p>\n
He explained that Phase I ran from 25th August to 10th December 2025 and registered 2,611,266 voters, Phase II from 5th January to 17th April 2026 registered 4,121,835, while Phase III from 11th May to 26th July 2026 registered 3,867,997 voters.<\/p>\n
On the state-by-state distribution, Prof. Amupitan listed the top 10 states as Lagos \u2013 7,488,633, Kano \u2013 6,570,276, Kaduna \u2013 4,662,640, Katsina \u2013 3,876,051, Rivers \u2013 3,736,434, Oyo \u2013 3,588,111, Delta \u2013 3,525,988, Benue \u2013 3,057,225, Ogun \u2013 3,037,981 and Bauchi \u2013 3,012,547.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the table, he said Ekiti State has the lowest number of registered voters with 1,055,708, followed by Bayelsa with 1,200,691. The FCT ranks next from the bottom with 1,732,043, followed by Yobe with 1,733,671 and Gombe with 1,768,566.<\/p>\n
On gender distribution, male voters account for 53,528,218, representing 51.75 per cent of the register, while female voters number 49,900,497, representing 48.25 per cent.<\/p>\n
The age profile, according to him, shows that voters aged 35 to 49 years dominate the register with 43,265,946 voters, or 41.83 per cent of the total. They are followed by voters aged 18 to 34 years, numbering 29,777,578, representing 28.79 per cent. Voters aged 50 to 69 years account for 22,982,900, or 22.22 per cent, while those aged 70 years and above are 7,402,291, representing 7.16 per cent.<\/p>\n
Prof. Amupitan also disclosed that the register records 232,658 Persons With Disabilities, PWDs, spread across 10 disability categories, representing roughly 0.23 per cent of the total.<\/p>\n
He said the largest category is \u201cOthers\u201d with 101,183 voters (43.49 per cent), followed by albinism with 44,023 voters (18.92 per cent) and physical impediment with 27,141 (11.67 per cent).<\/p>\n
The INEC Chairman announced that in compliance with Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, the Register of Voters will be displayed for public scrutiny from 9th to 15th October 2026, not later than 90 days before the General Election.<\/p>\n
He said distribution of Phase 1 PVCs to all Local Government Centres will commence on Friday, 9th October 2026, while the Register of Voters for the 2027 General Election is expected to be presented to political parties on 15th December 2026.<\/p>\n
*Police Assure Of Peaceful Polls, Clearance Operations In Kogi, Niger, Benue, Taraba*<\/p>\n
In his remarks, the Inspector-General of Police, represented by AIG in charge of Police Mobile Force, Alinyenu Idu, assured Nigerians that the police have a buoyant institutional memory and framework to ensure peaceful elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are gathered to speak, talk, and interact about the upcoming election and issues around the police, the Nigeria Police. We have a very buoyant institutional memory from March 1922, moving through the Legal Status Act to date,\u201d Idu said.<\/p>\n
He said the police have been able to regulate its actions on election activities, starting from pre-election activities, where it activates both operational and tactical assets to review the social fabric and ensure participation does not turn into violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat we do in recent times with participation of all sectors and security agencies, starting from us, the military, paramilitary, and the agencies that fuse effort to ensure that the election is peace and legal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to him, the police framework covers vulnerable citizens, women, security at venues, security for election materials in movement, collation centres and final declaration of results.<\/p>\n
He noted that the geography of security crisis has created pockets of fear, but the police is currently stabilising various arenas through clearance operations around Kogi, Niger, Benue and Taraba.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, that is part of our pre-election activity. By November, we\u2019ll review everything that we\u2019ve done and ensure that by December ending, we\u2019ll be able to tell Nigerians what and what we\u2019ve done totally and ensure that the election is done with every sense of assurance to citizens,\u201d Idu stated.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cAssurances is given here that we hope and we believe that the upcoming election in January and beyond will be an election that citizens will celebrate with freedom that is attained through their democratic rights, and what we in the agencies are fusing together to ensure violence is tamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
*NASS Commits To Electoral Framework, Lalong Says Credibility Is Shared Responsibility*<\/p>\n
Also speaking, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Senator Simon Lalong, said the meeting came at a time when continuous dialogue and consultations among stakeholders remain essential to strengthening democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gathering provides an important platform for stakeholders to exchange views, clarify issues, address concerns, and collectively reaffirm commitment to an electoral process that is transparent, credible, peaceful, and consistent with the provisions of our laws,\u201d Lalong said.<\/p>\n
Lalong reiterated the National Assembly\u2019s commitment to supporting continuous improvement of Nigeria\u2019s electoral framework and democratic institutions, noting that the legislature has a vital responsibility to provide the necessary legal and institutional framework.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the credibility of the election is the responsibility involving political parties, candidates, security agencies, the media, the civil society organizations, voters, every institution and individuals participating in the democratic process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He urged political parties and candidates to respect the rules, promote issue-based engagement and conduct themselves peacefully, while charging the media to play its role through accurate, balanced and responsible reporting to strengthen public understanding and counter misinformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere there are challenges, let us identify them frankly and address them through lawful and democratic channels. Where improvements are required, let us work together to achieve them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent Lagos, Kano and Katsina States have emerged as the states with the highest number of registered voters ahead of the 2027 general election, accounting for a combined 17.9 million voters on the National Register of Voters. This is as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced that Nigeria\u2019s total number of registered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18256,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18255\/revisions\/18256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}