INEC denies fresh voter migration in Abuja LG polls |LAGOS EYE NEWS

Nigeria’s electoral commission has rejected claims that voters in the capital were reassigned to new polling units ahead of last weekend’s local elections.

In a statement on Tuesday, Adedayo Oketola, media adviser to the chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said no voter migration took place in 2026 before the 21 February Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The commission acknowledged that some voters experienced difficulty locating their polling units on election day. However, it said reports that voters were moved shortly before the poll were incorrect.

INEC explained that the so-called “split polling units” cited in recent discussions were created in February 2022 under its nationwide expansion of voter access to polling units.

At that time, the commission increased the number of polling units across Nigeria from 119,972 to more than 176,000, creating over 56,000 additional units. To populate the new units — many of which initially had no registered voters — about 6.7 million voters were redistributed from roughly 12,000 congested polling units to around 17,000 less crowded ones.

In the FCT alone, 411 polling units were decongested, with approximately 580,000 voters redistributed to 1,156 polling units.

INEC stressed that no fresh redistribution was carried out in 2026.

It said “split polling units” are additional voting points, each with its own BVAS accreditation device, set up within the same premises as large polling units with more than 1,250 registered voters. The aim, it said, is to reduce overcrowding, speed up accreditation and improve orderliness.

The commission added that splitting polling units did not affect voters’ registration status, but only redistributed them administratively within the same location.

INEC also said that during a recent mock election in the FCT, it observed that some voters who had been reassigned in 2022 were still unsure of their designated polling units.

As a result, it sent text messages and emails between 18 and 21 February 2026 to affected voters, indicating the locations of their polling units. It described the messages as reminders rather than new migration notices.

The commission urged voters to verify their polling details ahead of future elections, including through its online Polling Unit Locator, and to visit their polling units in advance where possible.

The statement reiterated the commission’s commitment to improving electoral service delivery.