The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, has acknowledged the economic hardship confronting Nigerians, admitting that life is currently difficult for many households following the Federal Government’s economic reforms.

Gbajabiamila, however, defended the policies of the Tinubu administration, arguing that the President took difficult decisions in the long-term interest of the country rather than prioritising immediate political gains.

He spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the unveiling of the administration’s 2027–2031 electoral roadmap, titled From Reforms to Prosperity Agenda.

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives said the removal of petrol subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange market were necessary measures to address longstanding structural weaknesses in the economy and safeguard Nigeria’s economic future.

While acknowledging the impact of the policies on households, he maintained that postponing difficult economic decisions would have worsened the country’s challenges.
“Now, those decisions have placed real pressure on households. We must speak honestly about that experience because the people living through it deserve to be heard. And nobody should have to pretend that life is easy at the moment,” he said.

Gbajabiamila said Tinubu had chosen to govern as a statesman rather than a politician, noting that the President could have maintained the existing economic arrangements to avoid public discontent but opted instead to confront the country’s economic distortions.
“If he came in as a politician and decided to govern as a politician, he would have continued on the cruise, on the path that we were taking.
“But instead, knowing full well the immediate consequences, he decided he would govern as a leader,” he added.

He stressed that the success of the reforms would ultimately be measured by their ability to improve the living conditions of Nigerians and translate economic gains into tangible benefits for ordinary citizens.

Describing the new electoral roadmap as a reflection of Tinubu’s political philosophy and development vision, Gbajabiamila said the administration was committed to building an economy where hard work guarantees a decent livelihood and every Nigerian has a fair opportunity to succeed.
“At the heart of this manifesto is my abiding conviction that every Nigerian should be able to share. Your country should give your best efforts a fair chance.
“A manifesto, in its strictest sense, is simply a contract between the people and the leader,” he said.

He identified the administration’s interventions in human capital development, social protection, taxation and electricity as some of the measures aimed at expanding economic opportunities.

Among these, he cited the N-Power programme and the student loan scheme, which he said were designed to improve access to opportunities and reduce the financial burden on young Nigerians. He also defended the administration’s tax reforms, saying they were intended to promote fairness by easing the tax burden on low-income earners and qualifying small businesses.

On electricity, Gbajabiamila highlighted the Electricity Act, which empowers state governments to establish and regulate their electricity markets, describing it as a major step towards attracting investment and improving power supply.

He said the administration was working towards creating an environment where young Nigerians could pursue their ambitions without relying on political connections or patronage.

The President’s Chief of Staff urged members and stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to take responsibility for defending the administration’s record and engaging Nigerians on its policies.

He said the ruling party must be prepared to account for its performance and convince voters through measurable achievements rather than political rhetoric. “The party asking to continue in government must be prepared to answer the people whose mandate it seeks. “We must earn support through the quality of work, through the quality of our case and the seriousness of our conduct,” he said.

Gbajabiamila said the 2027 general election would provide Nigerians with an opportunity to determine whether to sustain the administration’s reform agenda or return to what he described as short-term political approaches.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it is yet to take any action on the court judgment involving the leadership crisis in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), insisting that it will not rely on reports circulating on social media without first obtaining and examining the actual judgment.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, said the Commission must formally receive the judgment, study its contents and obtain expert legal advice before determining the appropriate action, stressing that acting on unverified reports could lead to avoidable mistakes.

Amupitan spoke on Monday, November 9, 2026, while responding to questions at a press conference at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
“We don’t just act on the basis of what is on the social media,” he said.

Explaining the Commission’s procedure for handling court decisions, the chairman said judgments of such significance were first referred to his office before being forwarded to the relevant department for professional assessment and advice.

“Normally, when we receive judgment like that, it comes to the Commission, it comes first to the chairman who asks for the expertise advice from the relevant department before it’s taken to the Commission,” he said.

He stressed that INEC had yet to receive the ADC judgment and would therefore not act on information about its purported contents.
“In this case, we are yet to receive the judgment. So the judgment is to be received and studied. I know I’m also a lawyer,” he said, adding that he would personally examine the processes filed in the matter.

The INEC chairman recalled an earlier incident involving a purported Supreme Court judgment which went viral on social media but was subsequently disowned by the apex court. “The Supreme Court disowned itself from it, and even some people have been investigated,” he said.

His position underscores the Commission’s insistence that official decisions on the ADC leadership dispute must be based on an authenticated court document and proper legal interpretation rather than social media reports or public speculation.

On allegations of artificial intelligence-generated photographs infiltrating the voters’ register, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had traced some of the access points through which the images were introduced into its registration system.

He said the Commission had discovered that certain security access points were compromised, with some access credentials allegedly used to facilitate the irregularities.

“We have found the number that were used through AI to infiltrate. You see, it takes just one person to compromise the password,” he said.
He added that some access privileges had been granted by authorised personnel, creating opportunities for the misuse of the system.

In response, Amupitan said he had directed the Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to discontinue the use of web cameras for voter registration and replace them with an application-based camera system.

“We have just directed the director of ICT now that our IVFs, this web camera, should not be allowed again. Instead, we should have an app camera. It is what is on the app that will take picture,” he said.

According to him, the new arrangement would prevent registration personnel from importing photographs from external sources through web links or URLs, thereby strengthening the authenticity of images captured during registration.

“Don’t go and use any URL and begin to import pictures here and there. When things happen like that, you don’t want to fall into the same error,” he added.

The chairman said the Commission had also thoroughly investigated complaints received through its offices, online platforms and social media, clearing several allegations after due examination.

He maintained that the investigations were intended to ensure fairness and transparency and dispel suspicions of a hidden agenda in the handling of the complaints.

On the broader application of artificial intelligence in electoral administration, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had approved a comprehensive AI Governance Framework to regulate the responsible deployment of the technology in its operations.

He said although the Commission had an AI policy approved in 2025, before his appointment as chairman, the rapid evolution of the technology made it necessary to develop a more detailed framework.

“We decided as a Commission to have a comprehensive, well-laid out AI governance framework that will govern responsible deployment of AI,” he said.

Amupitan explained that the framework was developed in collaboration with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the British High Commission before being subjected to peer review.

He added that the Commission also considered the ECOWAS protocol on the subject before approving the document.

“Just today, the Commission also approved the AI governance framework that will improve on what we used to have,” he said, noting that the guidelines contained safeguards to ensure artificial intelligence was deployed for legitimate and appropriate purposes.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed more than 1.6 million invalid records from the national register of voters following a clean-up of the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, while identifying 54 registration personnel in 10 states for alleged complicity in the irregularities.

The Commission also disclosed plans to tackle longstanding duplications in the voters’ register dating back to 2011, warning that cleaning up the latest registration exercise alone would not resolve the integrity challenges confronting the national register ahead of the 2027 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, made the disclosures on Monday, November 9, 2026, at a press conference at the Commission’s headquarters on the display and publication of the Preliminary Register of Voters.

He said the 1,609,553 records removed comprised 1,608,660 confirmed invalid registrations and 873 records of verified deceased persons, which were treated as a separate category.

According to him, the Commission harvested 11,088,238 records from the three phases of the 2025/2026 CVR exercise, with its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) initially flagging 1,545,052 records for further examination.

Amupitan, however, cautioned that being flagged by the automated system did not automatically render a registration invalid, explaining that each case required proper review and adjudication.

“A flagged record is not necessarily an invalid registration: automated screening identifies matters requiring review, while authorised adjudication determines the outcome,” he said.

The INEC chairman disclosed that 1,277,052 registrations had been confirmed invalid and excluded before the publication of the Preliminary Register.

He said another 268,000 cases were subjected to adjudication following claims, objections and complaints received during the public display of the register. Of these, 217,722 were confirmed invalid and removed, while 50,278 were cleared as valid and retained. A further screening exercise uncovered 113,886 additional invalid registrations, bringing the post-display removals to 331,608.

“The Commission confirms that the current register-cleaning exercise for the 2025/2026 Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) has been concluded,” Amupitan said.

On the alleged involvement of registration personnel, he said a technical assessment examined suspected multiple registrations, unusual registration patterns, substituted photographs and irregularities in registration transactions.

The assessment, he said, revealed instances in which some personnel deliberately circumvented established procedures and abused provisions intended to accommodate exceptional registration circumstances, including persons with disabilities.

He said the affected records had been identified and subjected to review and remediation, while the personnel involved had been listed for further administrative investigation.

“Fifty-four persons cutting across ten States have been identified as complicit and necessary disciplinary action will be taken against them, including possible prosecution,” he stated.

To prevent a recurrence, the Commission is strengthening its registration controls through enhanced biometric capture, authentication and verification safeguards.
Amupitan explained that INEC waited for the expiration of the 14-day statutory period provided under Section 19(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, before making the latest announcement.

He said the Final Register of Voters would be published on December 15, 2026, adding that final reconciliation, quality assurance and publication checks were ongoing to ensure that all approved changes were properly reflected.

However, the chairman warned that the exercise had not addressed the wider problem of questionable entries in the national register, particularly duplications inherited from previous registration exercises between 2011 and 2023.

He said most of the duplicate names and photographs circulating on social media related to the old register rather than the recently concluded CVR exercise.

“Cleaning the register of only the 2025/2026 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise alone will not solve the problem identified,” he said.

According to him, the national register had evolved through successive registration and voter registration update exercises since 2011, using different technologies, operational arrangements and quality standards.

He noted that significant historical integrity concerns remained and required a systematic nationwide response.

Consequently, the Commission, at its meeting on Monday, resolved to address the duplications in the older register, with cases already flagged through public complaints, as well as obvious cases identified internally, to be removed after proper verification.

INEC had announced a nationwide voter revalidation exercise in February 2026 but subsequently postponed it until after the 2027 general elections following concerns from stakeholders about its proximity to the polls and the potential impact on voter participation.

Amupitan, however, maintained that the postponement did not suspend the Commission’s responsibility to protect the integrity of the register, noting that existing mechanisms, including biometric screening, adjudication and statutory claims and objections, remained operational.

On complaints by some voters that their names were missing from the register, the chairman explained that most of the affected persons had registered between 2011 and 2023 but subsequently registered afresh instead of applying for a transfer to their new locations.

He said ABIS invalidated the subsequent registrations, while their original records remained at their previous registration locations.
He therefore advised affected voters to check their former polling locations to establish whether their names were still on the register.

On the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), Amupitan said distribution of cards from Phases One and Two, as well as transferred PVCs, was ongoing at local government area offices nationwide.

He disclosed that some cards produced under the third and final phase were being delivered and would be dispatched to states by the following week.

According to him, distribution would return to Registration Areas from December 1, 2026, while appealing to third-phase registrants to exercise patience because the cards were produced outside Nigeria.

The INEC chairman also assured Nigerians that the Commission had adequate safeguards against multiple voting on election day.

He explained that under the Standard Operating Procedures for Presiding Officers, supported by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), every voter must be physically present at the designated polling unit and undergo biometric authentication through fingerprint or facial recognition before being accredited.

“The Commission remains committed both to removing confirmed invalid entries and to protecting eligible Nigerians from wrongful exclusion,” he said.

He added that INEC would continue to publish verifiable aggregate information on the clean-up exercise while safeguarding personal data and the integrity of ongoing investigations.