The Independent National Electoral Commission has dismissed viral social media claims that its officials were distributing death certificates to citizens during the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
INEC described the incident as a procedural error by a registration officer, saying the development was easily misinterpreted because of the politically sensitive atmosphere in the country.
The controversy followed a viral video in which a man attempting to complete his voter documentation alleged that he and other prospective registrants were being asked to fill forms that appeared to be death notification forms, while officials described them as voter registration forms.
“We are being asked to fill and sign what is clearly a death certificate form, but they are calling it a voters’ registration form,” the man said in the video recorded at the registration centre.
The claim reportedly caused panic among other citizens waiting in line and temporarily disrupted registration activities at the centre.
However, an INEC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the form at the centre of the controversy was INEC Form EC 3A, officially titled “Notification of Death of a Person Named on the Register.”
The official explained that the form is not a voter registration form and is never meant to be given to fresh registrants during the registration process.
According to the official, Form EC 3A is used only during the claims and objections stage, after registration has ended, as part of the commission’s process for cleaning up the voter register.
“The said form is for Claims and Objections. INEC does not issue death certificates. We are in very politically sensitive times and any little thing could be misinterpreted, either mischievously or innocently,” the official said.
The official added that if the registration officers had any reason to use the form to collect basic details, they ought to have removed or struck out the heading to avoid confusion.
Explaining the proper use of Form EC 3A, the INEC official said it is designed to help the commission remove deceased persons from the voter register.
The official said the form can only be filled by a voter who seeks to report that a registered voter in the same polling unit is dead, and such a claim must be supported with evidence such as a death certificate or obituary.
“The form is only given out during Claims and Objections, after the registration process has ended. It is one of the ways we clean up the register,” the official explained.
“There are thousands of deceased people on the voter register and we can only strike such dead voters off the register with the help of fellow Nigerians — voters who are in that polling unit. And even when the forms are given out during Claims and Objections, the voter who is filling them must attach an evidence to support his or her claim that a registered voter is now deceased. He either attaches a death certificate or an obituary, and such claim will also be investigated by the Commission before any action is taken,” the official added.
The official, however, acknowledged that the registration officer involved may have run out of the standard registration form, INEC Form EC 1A, and wrongly used Form EC 3A as a substitute.
“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.
INEC Form EC 1A is the standard form for new voter registration, capturing personal details, biometrics and address information for polling unit assignment.
Form EC 3A, on the other hand, is specifically designed for claims relating to deceased registered voters and cannot be used as a substitute for normal voter registration without creating confusion.
The commission said it has so far removed 7,746 deceased persons from the voter register through the claims and objections process, including 2,500 in Yobe State alone.
INEC said the exercise is part of efforts to clean up the register and protect the integrity of the voter database ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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