"The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has agreed to extend the ongoing Continuous Voters' Registration (CVR) exercise by 60 days," begins a message posted on Facebook in Nigeria on 22 June 2022.

"Registration was initially slated to end in June 30, 2022, but calls to extend the CVR exercise came from Nigerians who are yet to register."

Nigeria is set to hold presidential and national assembly elections on 25 February 2023, and elections for governorship and state houses of assembly on 11 March.

The claim that Inec, the Independent National Electoral Commission, extended voter registration by 60 days in late June appears elsewhere on Facebook, as well as on websites.

But did it? We checked.

Registration extended through July

Inec is responsible for the conduct of elections in Nigeria. It had earlier scheduled continuous voter registration (CVR) to end on 30 June 2022.

According to the continuous voters registration guide, CVR is the process where the commission "registers new voters, compile, maintain and update the register of voters on a continuous basis for the period immediately preceding a general election".

But a press release posted on Inec's verified Twitter account on 15 July announced that CVR would continue for a further 31 days after the federal high court dismissed a suit seeking an extension of registration.

According to the release, an interim court injunction had earlier extended CVR by 15 days, but it would now end on 31 July 2022.

"The CVR exercise is hereby extended for another two weeks until Sunday 31st July 2022, thereby bringing the total duration of the extension to 31 days (1st-31st July 2022)," it reads.

Inec has extended continuous voter registration for 31 days, from 1 July to 31 July, past the initial cutoff of 30 June.