A man walked into a voter registration centre in Nigeria to get his Permanent Voter's Card. He walked out holding a form that said 'Notification of Death of a Person Named on the Register'.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has now admitted that happened. But the commission says it was a mistake — not a sinister plot to register dead people.

A viral video showed the man complaining that INEC staff gave him what looked like a death certificate form instead of a voter registration sheet. Other people in the queue got worried. Registration temporarily stopped at that centre.

INEC Form EC 3A isn't meant for new voters. It's used during the Claims and Objections period — after registration — when someone reports that a registered voter has died. The person reporting must attach a death certificate or obituary, and INEC investigates before removing the dead person from the register.

The correct form for new registration is INEC Form EC 1A. That's the one that captures biometrics, personal details, and polling unit assignment.

An INEC official who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity said the registration officer had run out of Form EC 1A and made a poor decision by grabbing EC 3A instead. 'Even if the registration officer ran out of the main registration form — INEC Form EC 1A — what he ought to have done in trying to get the details of prospective registrants was to have struck or torn off the heading of the so-called death certificate and leave only items applicable to new registrants,' the official said.

The official stressed that INEC doesn't issue death certificates. 'We are in very politically sensitive times and any little thing could be misinterpreted, either mischievously or innocently,' the official added.

INEC has been running the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) ahead of the 2027 general elections. The commission says it has removed 7,746 deceased persons from the voter register through the Claims and Objections process so far, including 2,500 in Yobe State alone.

'The said form is for Claims and Objections. INEC does not issue death certificates.'

The incident comes at a time when many Nigerians are already suspicious about the integrity of the voter register. The 2023 elections saw widespread complaints about missing names and ghost voters.

For now, INEC is asking the public to understand that one officer's mistake doesn't represent commission policy. But the damage to trust may already be done — especially in a country where people are used to officials saying one thing and doing another.

  • INEC Form EC 3A is titled 'Notification of Death of a Person Named on the Register'
  • INEC Form EC 1A is the standard new voter registration form
  • 7,746 deceased persons have been removed from the register so far
  • 2,500 of those removals were in Yobe State alone
  • The error happened during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) for the 2027 elections