The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has disclaimed reports that it has failed to display the voters’ register in disobedience of extant laws.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclaimed the report at an event to validate the revised framework and regulations for voting by Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Abuja , said: “While we always appreciate our collaboration with all stakeholders, it has become necessary to make an important clarification in respect of a statement attributed to a section of the civil society organisations.
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“At a media briefing , the commission was accused of failure to display the voters’ register as provided by Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2022. This claim is incorrect.
“What the commission displayed for claims and objections in our local government area offices nationwide for a period of one week, from August 15-21, 2022, was not the entire register of voters but the list of fresh registrants at the end of the fourth and last quarters of the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise covering the period from April 11-July 31, 2022.
‘’This has been the practice for several years. Earlier, the commission had displayed the register three times: 24th – 30th September 2021 (first quarter), December 24-30, 2021 (second quarter) and March 26– April 1, 2022 (third quarter).
“A comprehensive schedule of the CVR exercise and the display of the register was shared with stakeholders at our quarterly meeting just before the inception of the exercise in June last year.
“We wish to assure Nigerians that the commission will display the comprehensive register in all the 8,809 wards and 774 local government areas and area councils nationwide as envisaged in Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2022. This will integrate fresh voters registered under the last CVR exercise to the existing register of over 84 million voters.
“The date will be announced as soon the commission completes the ongoing Automated Biometric Identification System, ABIS, to weed out all double/multiple as well as ineligible registrants. We appeal to some of our friends in civil society to be guided accordingly.”
“This process is ensure that no eligible Nigerian is left out of the electoral process on account of displacement, disability or other circumstances that may limit citizens’ participation in the electoral process.
