The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed suggestions that public confidence in the country’s electoral system is collapsing, insisting that record levels of participation in voter registration point to the opposite.
The response follows weeks of criticism from civil society and religious groups warning of deepening disillusionment with elections after contentious polls and allegations of irregularities.
But Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to INEC’s chairman, said on Sunday that such claims were “more myth than reality”, citing the turnout for the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
“Those who proclaim it lack convincing evidence,” he told The Punch. “On the contrary, the high level of participation by Nigerians, especially the youths, in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration shows that citizens still have confidence in the process.”
The numbers appear striking. Within the first seven hours of the CVR portal going live on 18 August, more than 69,000 Nigerians had pre-registered. By the end of the first week, the figure had climbed to 1.3 million, surging past 5.3 million by 21 September.
In-person registration, which began on 25 August, added a further 764,000 registrations within the first month. “There is no African country with these types of voter registration figures within one month,” Oyekanmi said.
He stressed that under the Electoral Act 2022, those who pre-register online must still complete the process in person for biometric capture, a safeguard, he said, against fraud.
Reflecting on the 2023 general election, Oyekanmi argued it delivered the most politically diverse legislature since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, with seven parties winning Senate seats and eight represented in the House of Representatives.
He also pointed to state-level results and recent bye-elections as further evidence that Nigerians “have kept faith with the electoral process”.
Critics, however, maintain that procedural improvements have not quelled broader concerns over transparency, vote-buying and the commission’s handling of disputes.
Oyekanmi accused some of those calling for reforms of double standards, noting that many who criticise INEC simultaneously campaign for it to take control of local government elections. “Surely, they cannot continue to walk on both sides of the road,” he said.
