AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU, THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC) A CALL FOR OVERHAULLING, REVALIDATION OR CLEANING UP OF REGISTER OF VOTERS

INTRODUCTION: Mr President Sir, distinguished members of the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
You may recall, INEC in its effort to improve the value of our electoral system, announced the re-opening of voters’ register by first quarter of 2025. You may also recall the recent address by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the ECOWAS Heads of States to emulate Ghana’s elections that was recently conducted, because of its free, fair and the transparent nature of that election. By implication the President acknowledged that the election process that brought him to power was not transparent, credible, free and fair like that of Ghana. Mr. President Sir, we thank you for acknowledging that our electoral system is characterized with irregularities and you feel that Ghana’s electoral process is the way to go.
Sir, emulating Ghana will have to do with attitudinal change, fear of God, good conscience, honesty, transparency, truthfulness and the ability to accept fault and reality. Are we ready for that? Nigeria can do better than Ghana considering the potentials and intellectual capacity that we have.
Mr. President Sir, our knowledge about you is that you are a real democrat, a champion and fighter for democratic governance. Your coming to power at this material time was a divine arrangement. We see you as a round peg in a round hole. As a leader and a lover of democratic rule, Nigerians are looking up to you to clean our electoral system and block the loop holes that create rooms for rigging and other forms of electoral frauds and malpractices. Nigerians are hoping that 2027 election will be better than that of Ghana, which is a true reflection of the will of the electorate as you told African Head of States to emulate.
Your Excellency sir, members of the National Assembly and INEC, in line with your laudable idea, thinking and renewed hope agenda of rebuilding the confidence of the electorate on INEC and our electoral system to be credible and acceptable again, in my understanding, the task of rebuilding Nigeria is a collective responsibility. Therefore, I, Elder Ali Akpandam, former Governorship aspirant and Deputy Gubernatorial candidate of ACN in 2007 election in Nasarawa state, wish to call on INEC and other sister agencies concerned not to just re-open registration of voters for multiple invalid figures for registration sake, but to totally overhaul and clean up the voters’ registers.
The efforts made by INEC to decongest polling units in 2023 election by extending or opening more polling units all over the country was more or less awarding or allocating of unbelievable figures to some favoured polling units, wards, LGA or State as the case may be. The figures are not real and cannot be verified, justified and accepted.
In 2023 general election in Lafia Local Government Area for instance, in some polling units, you would find over and above 1,000 registered voters, whereas accredited voters would just be between 100, 200 and 300. How do you justify the authenticity of such figures?.
Sir, these humongous figures where in some electoral wards you would find voters’ registration of 1468, 1000, 900, 800, 700, 600 but in most cases their accreditation is within range of 100, 150, 200, or at most 300. In some cases the figures were 100, 80, 70, 50, 30, and 15 registered voters but the actual accreditation were just 50, 25, 20, 16, 7, 6, respectively.
Sir, with the above examples, many conscienceless politicians both from executive and legislative arms who burgled their ways into corridors of power, used INEC to declare them the winners with such humongous figures regardless of accredited number of voters and asked whoever that did not accept the fraudulent outcome should go to court.
In some places, INEC just decided to favour them with unjustifiable new polling units despite few numbers of registered voters in such places. It does not make sense to open a new registration unit in a community where you have polling units with less than 80, 90, 100 register voters. The new registration was done just to justify the outrageous figures allocated to that ward.
Your Excellency, distinguished members of the National Assembly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), what I am presenting is not to undermine INEC’s efforts, neither am I just to criticising them. It is a statement of facts and verifiable analysis. I have taken my time to make general survey/analysis of the country’s voters’ register, and I have come to understand that the recent registration of voters was just a mere allocation of figures. Therefore, if we must get it right like Ghana, then INEC will have to start it all over to verify the authentic registered voters, by cleaning up the register.
After my survey/analysis, I decided to pick Nasarawa State in the North Central Zone, and Lafia Local Government Area in particular, which is the Capital of the State as a case study as follow:
1. ADOGI WARD: Adogi ward with 22 polling units, INEC decided to allocate or award 800 plus each to seven (7) polling units, claiming as registered voters, while none of these seven (7) units had accredited number of voters above 200 or up to 300 voters in the 2023 general election. Secondly, INEC also awarded three (3) polling units each with 900 plus but only one had accredited voters of 319, the rest were just 200 plus. In the same Adogi ward, and funny enough, INEC decided to open new polling units with the following figures: Unit 02 had one (1) registered voter; unit 021 had 12 registered voters, whereas unit 016 had 34 registered voters. Unit 017 had 57 votes, unit 018 with 74 registered voters, unit 019 with 22, unit 021 with 12, unit 022 had 53 registered voters and unit 037 had 75 registered voters.
2. AGYARAGU TOFA WARD: Agyaragu ward had 27 polling units, and INEC awarded 700 plus to four (4) polling units each. Whereas 900 plus registered voters were awarded to three (3) polling units each but none of the units had accredited voters above 200 plus.
3. AKURBA WARD: Akurba ward with 42 polling units, INEC decided to award or allocate 750 registered voters each to 18 polling units. Out of those 18, only two (2) of the polling units had accreditation above 300, but the remaining 16 had just 200 plus accredited voters. Similarly, four (4) polling units were awarded 1000-plus registered voters each but only two (2) of the units had up to 400-plus accredited voters.
4. ARIKYA WARD: Arikya ward had 27 polling units. INEC allocated or awarded 700 each to seven (7) polling units as registered voters, but only two (2) of the units had accredited voters of 200-plus, the remaining five (5) had Just 100 and above. Still in Arikya ward, two (2) polling units were awarded 900 and above registered voters, but none of them had accredited voters above 100.
5.ASSAKIO WARD: Assakio ward has 44 polling units and INEC allocated 750 register voters each to 11 polling, but only two (2) of the units have up to 300 accredited Voters, while the remaining nine (9) have only 100 plus accredited voters. In the same vein, INEC awarded 900 registered voters to two (2) pulling units, but their accredited number during the 2023 general election was as follows: 309 and 226 respectively.
6.ASHIGE WARD: In Ashige ward with 32 polling units, INEC allocated 750 each to eight (8) poll units as registered voters, while none of the eight (8) units has above 200 plus as accredited voters, and INEC allocated one of the units with 1302 and the unit had less than 300 accredited voters.

7,CIROMA WARD: Ciroma ward is the biggest electoral ward in Lafia LGA with 102 polling units. INEC decided to award or allocate 750 each to 36 polling units as registered voters, while only 15 polling units have up to 200 accredited voters. The remaining 21 polling units have only 100 plus as accredited voters. In the same Ciroma ward, INEC allocated 800 each to seven (7) polling units as registered voters but among this seven (7) units, only four (4) of them have accreditation of 300, while the rest have about 200 as accredited voters. INEC also allocated 1,000 and above to eight (8) polling units each as registered voters, and only four (4) units have 300 plus as accredited voters, while for the remaining four (4), none had been accredited above 200 voters. In the same Ciroma ward, as if INEC was not satisfied with the allocation of figures of the ward, it therefore decided to open new or more polling units with the following registered voters.
S/N
New Polling Units
Registered Voters

1
042
13

2
044
74

3
0046
46

4
051
80

5
052
40

6
054
70

7
055
73

8
081
84

9
085
15

10
090
45

11
092
65

12
094
25

13
100
51

In my opinion, the above new polling units were uncalled for. Those units could be wisely utilized in rural areas/villages where some of them travelled for three (3) to 15km to reach their central polling centres.
8.GAYAM WARD: Gayam ward with 57 poll units, INEC allocated or awarded 750 each to 21 polling units as registered voters. Out of these 21 units, only 14 units have accreditation above 200 voters, while the remaining seven (7) units have below 200 voters. INEC also allotted 800 Plus to 3 units each, 900 plus to four (4) units and 1000 plus each to three (3) poll units as registered voters. None of these polling units has accredited voters above 200 except one unit with 300. As usually done in other wards, INEC opened new polling units in Gayam as follows: Unit 042 has 77 accredited voters, unit 050 has 70 accredited voters.
9.KEFFI WAMBAI WARD: Keffi Wambai ward has 23 polling units. INEC decided to allocate750 each to nine (9) polling units as registered voters, while none of the units has up to 300 as accredited voters.
10. MAKAMA WARD: Makama ward with 23 polling units, INEC decided to allocate 750 each to nine (9) poll units as registered voters and all the accredited voters for the nine (9) units were within the range of 100 to 200.
11. SHABU/KWANDERE WARD: With 45 polling units. INEC allocated 750 each to nine (9) polling units as registered voters, and only four (4) of the polling units has up to 250, while five (5) had about 50 as accredited voters, and just two (2) of the unit have 300 and above accredited voters.
12 WAKWA WARD: With 25 polling units, INEC allocated 750 each to nine (9) polling units as registered voters, also 900 plus each was allocated to four (4) poling units and all the accredited voters of the ward are within the range 100 to 300.
13 ZANWA WARD: With 22 polling units, INEC allocated 750 each to eight (8) polling units as registered voters and the accredited voters of all the polling units of Zanwa ward are just within the range of 100 to 250 plus.
INEC in its desire to favour the wards within the State Capital, decided to open more or new registration units in Zanwa despite the low turn out of accredited voters recorded in the ward as follows
Unit 014 has 44 voters
Unit 017 has 80 voters
Unit 019 has 9 voters
Unit 020 7 has voters.
To buttress my claims, below is a table showing some polling units in the 13 electoral wards of Lafia Local Government Area on how INEC clearly awarded or allocated frivolous or fictitious figures especially when you carefully compare the number of registered voters and the accredited voters in the 2023 general election.
CIROMA WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
001
750
116

2
002
750
178

3
004
750
193

4
005
750
199

5
008
750
246

6
012
750
222

7
013
750
160

8
014
 
187

9
016
750
156

10
017
750
227

11
018
750
238

12
019
750
211

13
023
750
260

14
024
750
204

15
025
750
226

16
028
750
194

17
030
750
266

18
031
750
197

19
034
768
255

20
035
750
223

21
039
750
279

22
040
750
235

23
041
750
214

24
045
750
232

25
049
750
196

26
59
750
252

27
61
750
191

28
62
750
226

29
63
750
271

30
73
750
320

31
75
750
231

32
79
750
197

33
83
750
225

34
87
750
225

35
98
750
187

36
101
750
149

37
03
860
278

38
07
859
294

39
009
810
198

40
010
891
270

41
015
819
200

42
020
830
239

43
027
825
223

44
006
992
294

45
033
909
326

46
011
1070
272

47
021
1836
403

48
022
1473
389

49
026
1145
279

50
029
1015
246

51
032
1406
275

52
035
1279
392

53
037
1490
461

 
 
 
 

2.GAYAM WARD
POLING UNITS
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
300
750
234

2
004
750
248

3
006
750
253

4
008
750
271

5
011
750
195

6
012
760
233

7
015
750
294

8
016
750
348

9
022
750
217

10
024
750
196

11
025
761
181

12
027
766
293

13
029
748
289

14
030
750
272

15
038
750
263

16
043
750
170

17
044
750
070

18
048
750
333

19
055
750
205

20
001
887
303

21
009
855
252

22
021
837
310

23
007
969
275

24
010
978
218

25
014
905
266

26
017
1387
348

27
018
1131
218

28
020
1163
277

 
 
 
 

3.AKURBA WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
02
750
239

2
03
750
203

3
04
750
230

4
05
750
238

5
06
789
289

6
09
750
146

7
012
780
224

8
016
712
182

9
018
750
439

10
020
727
192

11
028
750
204

12
030
750
263

13
032
750
263

14
033
750
330

15
035
750
286

16
038
750
326

17
041
750
459

18
042
750
225

 
 
 
 

4. ASSAKIO WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
01
750
203

2
04
750
177

3
05
750
169

4
06
781
96

5
011
750
128

6
016
750
48

7
030
750
344

8
034
740
168

9
036
750
304

10
007
842
299

11
014
871
223

12
015
853
298

13
019
846
232

14
036
853
180

15
02
903
226

16
03
920
309

 
 
 
 

5. ASHIGE WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
02
750
264

2
05
768
227

3
010
787
315

4
011
783
230

5
012
787
161

6
013
794
230

7
014
762
301

8
020
919
174

9
09
1302
195

10
01
1080
360

 
 
 
 

6. ADOGI WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
006
882
324

2
007
857
238

3
008
837
270

4
009
869
286

5
012
803
243

6
013
890
293

7
014
827
200

8
002
986
298

9
004
998
319

10
010
912
266

 
 
 
 

7. AGYARAGU TOFA
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
03
780
267

2
05
750
221

3
07
750
211

4
08
750
296

5
09
750
250

6
02
927
299

7
016
901
158

8
019
919
252

9
20
952
216

 
 
 
 

8. ARIKYA WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
01
700
188

2
07
773
226

3
08
750
160

4
012
742
179

5
014
725
161

6
015
769
193

7
020
750
220

8
06
869
255

9
010
824
175

10
011
842
224

11
017
895
111

12
019
958
164

 
 
 
 

9. KEFFI WAMBAI
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
01
794
261

2
03
788
217

3
05
751
295

4
06
754
215

5
08
734
228

6
014
750
252

7
015
723
219

8
013
816
320

9
016
804
330

 
 
 
 

10. MAKAMA
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
001
750
202

2
002
750
185

3
005
777
218

4
006
750
239

5
010
750
266

6
011
730
257

7
017
750
269

8
021
750
181

9
008
834
193

10
003
991
279

11
004
912
187

 
 
 
 

11.SHABU/KWANDERE
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
003
750
232

2
006
750
260

3
013
767
169

4
014
750
186

5
016
792
186

6
018
753
213

7
019
750
305

8
028
750
47

9
031
750
287

10
020
822
230

11
002
939
367

12
008
804
201

13
011
972
243

14
015
945
221

15
001
1068
365

16
004
1697
612

17
007
1567
481

 
 
 
 

12. WAKWA WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
005
750
187

2
006
750
229

3
011
750
288

4
012
750
216

5
013
750
173

6
018
750
375

7
010
772
240

8
008
727
261

9
002
704
216

10
001
820
194

13. ZANWA WARD
Poling Units
No. of Register Voters
No. of accredited Voters

1
001
750
210

2
006
750
210

3
015
750
283

4
022
750
250

5
002
790
206

6
003
741
166

7
008
745
210

8
010
758
289

9
005
818
261

10
009
928
180

11
004
1280
251

Fellow patriotic Nigerians, the above election X-RAY and post-mortem is to afford those who did not have the opportunity to know the mess we are in this country. Therefore, urgent measures need to be taken to rescue our electoral processes and nascent democracy.
Sir, when I said INEC awarded or allocated figures in favour of some wards, Local Government Areas or States as the case may be, some people may not understand and INEC may disagree and argue otherwise. Gentlemen, the purpose of this letter is not to undermine, accuse, criticize, argue or join issue with anybody but to present facts and figures concerning our electoral system. How can one justify 36 polling units in the same electoral ward of Ciroma of having equal figures of 750 registered voters? Similarly, how can one equally justify 750 equal number of registered voters in 16 poling units of Gayam Ward? In addition, the same figure appear multiple times in other five (5) different electoral wards of Akurba, Makama, Shabu/Kwandere, Wakwa and Zanwa. The above-mentioned wards are just a few illustrations of many instances of mess that happened in Nasarawa State and Nigeria as whole in most cases in 2023 elections, and that is the purpose of calling on INEC to do the needful by cleaning up the voters’ register.
Your Excellency Mr. President Sir, distinguished members of the National Assembly and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as part of President Tinubu’s re-newed hope agenda, and if we must go the Ghana way as Mr president said, then INEC must be sincere to clean up the voters’ registers without fear of favour.
Prayer:
I pray that the authority concerned will examine or post-mortem made by citing Nasarawa and Lafia LGA in particular as a case study with the view to cleaning up the voters’ registers for accuracy, efficiency, transparency and honesty. I believe this will remove the fictitious names that give room for gullible, conscienceless politicians and people with no integrity to manipulate and rigg elections.
This process will also build the confidence of the electorate on INEC and electoral system where the integrity and popular candidates of the masses alone will win elections. It will also build confidence, trust and integrity for Nigerians and the international community on Nigerians.
Furthermore, it will drastically reduce the number of knavish polling units that the government usually spend huge amounts of resources such as materials and allowances of ad hoc staff.
Finally, I wish to call on fellow patriotic Nigerians who are interested and love democratic governance, advocates for good governance and transparency, anti-corruption agencies, the Institute of Democratic Studies to rise up in defence of our hard-earned democracy. I urge you to devote your time to X-tray the number of registered voters of Wards to confirm these claims and join me in exposing the cankerworm that has bedevilled our political space.
I also call on the International community such as Yiaga Africa, ECOWAS, Democracy Without Boarder, Transparency International, Human Rights organizations and other International activists to come to our aid.

Sign
Hon. Ali A. Akpandam
Former Executive Chairman, Lafia LGC
Gubernatorial Aspirant and
Deputy Gubernatorial Candidate of ACN 2007 general Election in Nasarawa State.