A former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Festus Okoye, has dropped a devastating bombshell on the integrity of the 2027 general elections, admitting that Nigeria’s voters’ register is not clean or genuine, and that there is nothing the commission can do to fix it before the polls.
Okoye made the shocking admission during a recent public appearance, where he conceded that the foundational document for the 2027 elections is already compromised. “Our voters register is not clean and genuine, but there is nothing we can do now. We have to go into the election with it,” Okoye said.
This is a monumental admission of failure from a man who once sat at the highest levels of Nigeria’s electoral body. It is a direct confirmation of the fears that have gripped the nation since INEC published its preliminary voters’ register last month. When a former top INEC official admits that the register is fake, it is no longer a conspiracy theory. It is a national crisis.
Okoye’s statement validates the recent discoveries by Nigerians who found artificial intelligence-generated names and photographs on INEC’s online portal. It validates the admission by INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Lawrence Bayode, that some of the commission’s own registration officers were compromised and used their official access to inject fake records into the system.
INEC spent billions of naira preparing for this election. It procured 57,000 new BVAS machines and promised Nigerians a clean, transparent process. Instead, the commission has delivered a register that its own former commissioner describes as ungenuine. If the foundation is rotten, the entire election is a sham.
The implication of Okoye’s words is chilling. If Nigeria goes into the 2027 elections with a dirty register, millions of legitimate voters could be disenfranchised. Their names might have been deleted, duplicated, or swapped with AI ghosts. At the same time, fictitious voters could be used to manipulate results in favour of the ruling party. When the register is compromised, the ballot box ceases to be an expression of the people’s will. It becomes a tool for whoever controls the machinery of manipulation.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has the constitutional responsibility to deliver a free and fair election. It cannot wash its hands of this failure. It cannot simply say there is nothing it can do. If the register is dirty, the commission must clean it. If its officers are corrupt, it must arrest and prosecute them. If the process is broken, it must fix it. Nigerians deserve better than an electoral body that throws its hands up in defeat while the future of the country hangs in the balance.
The 2027 election is already being viewed with deep suspicion. From the ruling party buying off councillors to the artificial intelligence ghosts on the voter roll, the signs point to a deliberate attempt to subvert the democratic process. If INEC goes ahead with this tainted register, it will be handing a blank cheque to the ruling party to rig the election. Nigerians must demand accountability. They must demand a forensic audit of the register. They must demand that Okoye’s confession does not become the epitaph of Nigeria’s democracy.
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