Tag: CVR

UPDATE: Court refuses to order INEC to resume CVR exercise

Contrary to an earlier report, the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday refused to direct the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to resume the continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, held that going by the date of the verdict, INEC would have had “just a few days away from 90 days before the general elections.

Justice Ekwo, however, declared that INEC “is expected pursuant to the provisions of Sections 76 (2), 77 (2), 116 (2), 117 (2), 132 (2) & (5) and 178 (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as well as Sections 9 (1), 9 (6), 10 (1) and 12 (1) of the Electoral Acts, 2022, to continue voters registration, update and revision of voters register until 90 days before the General Election billed to take place on Feb. 25 and March 11.

“It is the constitutional responsibility of the defendant (INEC) to make sure that every prospective Nigerian voter who has shown desire to register to vote is not deprived of their civil right to register and participate in the forthcoming general elections scheduled to take place on 25th February 2023 and 11th March 2023.”

According to Justice Ekwo, “this court is unable to grant relief number 3 of the plaintiffs because going by the date of this judgement, from the date of this judgement, the defendant will have just a few days away from 90 days before the general elections of 25th February, 2023 and 11th March, 2023.”

Four plaintiffs; Anajat Salmat, Mr Earnest Stanley, Chief Charles Okafor and Mr Samuel Oluwakemi had sued INEC for discontinued the voter registration exercise on July 31. INEC was the sole defendant in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1343/2022.

The plaintiffs had prayed the court for three reliefs which include “a declaration that the defendant is expected pursuant to the provisions of Sections 76 (2), 77 (2), 116 (2), 117 (2), 132 (2) & (5) and 178 (2) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as well as Sections 9 (1), 9 (6), 10 (1) and 12 (1) of the Electoral Acts, 2022, to continue voters registration, update and revision of voters register till 90 days before the general election.

“A declaration that it is the constitutional responsibility of the defendant to make sure that every prospective Nigerian voter who has shown the desire to register to vote is not deprived of their civil right to register and participate in the forthcoming general elections.

“An order of court directing the defendant to resume immediately the registration of new voters, updating and revision of the register of voters until at least 90 days to the general election slated to hold on 5th February, 2023 and 11th March, 2023.”

Delivering the judgment, the judge said: “The case of the plaintiffs, therefore, succeeds on the merit and I answer their sole question in the negative. I also answer the questions of the defendant as follows: Question 1, partially in the positive, and Question 2, in the positive“.

INEC, in its argument, had said that it ended the CVR exercise at the time it did because it needed to end the exercise so that the permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) could be printed in good time, and the distribution of same could commence in earnest.

November 22, 2022
2023: Court orders INEC to resume CVR until 90 days to election

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately resume the continuous voter registration (CVR) until 90 days before the 2023 general elections.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, also directed INEC to ensure that eligible Nigerians are not deprived the opportunity to have the voter’s card for the forthcoming poll.

Justice Ekwo held that it was the constitutional responsibility of the electoral umpire to make adequate provision for the exercise in accordance with Nigerian laws.

“The case of the plaintiffs succeeds on merit,” the judge declared.

Newsmen reports that Anajat Salmat and three others had sued INEC as sole defendant in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1343/2022.

In the originating summons filed before the court, the plaintiffs argued that INEC cannot stop the CVR contrary to the stipulated provisions of the constitution.

They urged the court to order the electoral umpire to resume the exercise in accordance with the law of the country.

November 22, 2022
“PVCs ‘ll be ready for collection in November, 2.7m double registrations deleted”- INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Mamoud Yakubu, has revealed that the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) would be ready for collection in November, as 2.7 million double registrations have been deleted from the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR).

According to the INEC boss, about 2.7 million double registrations have been removed from the CVR which ended in July.

He disclosed at a National Endowment for Democracy event in Washington that about 50 percent of PVCs are ready but are yet to be distributed to collection centres, and a new set will be available in November.

1,126,359 out of the 2, 523,458 PVC registrations between 28 June 2021 and 14 January 2022 were invalid and deleted

Yakubu’s spokesman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, also quoted him as raising concern about security challenges but he gave an assurance the INEC will do its best.

“It is a perennial issue because, at the end of the day, it is not new but the dimension of the insecurity is new in the sense that in the past, it was localised or confined to a particular part of the country – the North East but now, it is more widespread,” he said.

“We are keeping our eyes, particularly, on the North West and the South Eastern part of the country. Elections are conducted by human beings. We worry about the security of our officials, materials, and even the voters themselves. Without them, elections cannot be conducted.

“We have spoken to the security agencies and they have assured us that the situation will improve before the elections. So, fingers crossed,” Yakubu added.

INEC National Commissioner and Information and Voter Education Committee Chairman, Festus Okoye, announced in September the discovery of several double, multiple, and ineligible registrants who were invalidated.

He said cleaning up the Voters’ Register with Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) had been ongoing since the suspension of the CVR on 31 July.

INEC had earlier announced that 1,126,359 out of the 2, 523,458 PVC registrations between 28 June 2021 and 14 January 2022 were invalid and deleted.

October 14, 2022
CVR: INEC deletes 2.7m double registrants, PVCs ready in November

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said new Permanent Voter Cards will be made available by November.

INEC Chairman Prof Mahmoud Yakubu said this yesterday at a National Endowment for Democracy (NED) event in Washington DC in the United States.

Yakubu said 2.7 million double registrations were weeded out of the last Continuous Voters Registration exercise conducted by the commission.

According to him, about 50% of the new PVCs are ready but yet to be distributed to collection centres.

He also raised concerns about the rising levels of insecurity across the country, saying the Commission has its “fingers crossed”.

“It is a perennial issue because, at the end of the day, it is not new but the dimension of the insecurity is new in the sense that in the past, it was localised or confined to a particular part of the country – the North-East but now, it is more widespread,” he said.

“We are keeping our eyes, particularly, on the North-West and the South-Eastern part of the country. Elections are conducted by human beings. We worry about the security of our officials, materials, and even the voters themselves. Without them, elections cannot be conducted. ”

The INEC chief, however, said they “have spoken to the security agencies and they have assured us that the situation will improve before the elections. So, fingers crossed.”

October 12, 2022
Imo Govt., PDP disagree over alleged CVR fraud

The Imo State Government and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the State have disagreed over the mastermind behind the alleged irregularities in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) voter registration in the state.

Recall that the Spokesman for the Conference of United Political Parties, Ikenga Ugochinyere, recently raised an alarm, alleging that the register for Omuma Ward, which is Gov. Hope Uzodimma’s place, contained fictitious and fraudulent names.

The party accused the State Government of complicity in the alleged fraud. In a reaction at a news briefing on Saturday in Owerri, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Declan Emelumba, described the allegation as reckless, irresponsible and seditious.

Emelumba said that the allegation “could only have come from a jaundiced, mischievous mindset”.
He called for the immediate arrest of Ugochinyere, who is the PDP’s candidate for Ideato Federal Constituency in the 2023 elections.

“On the claim that Omuma ward had fewer than 6,000 registered voters in 2014, I have it on good authority from verified INEC data that the ward had almost 10,000 voters as at 2014 and had 23,000 registered by 2019.

“This is obviously because many indigenes of the ward came home to register to be able to vote for their son, who was contesting the governorship election.

“It is therefore clear that Ugochinyere either hacked into INEC’s server and doctored documents therefrom or forged the document he was brandishing. Either way is criminal and it is important that he is immediately arrested for questioning,” the commissioner said.

Responding to Emelumba’s reaction, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr Collins Opuruozor, said that the party would not tolerate any attack, threat or harassment of its candidate by the State Government.

“Not a single hair shall fall from Ugochinyere’s head, nor a scratch found on his body,” Opuruozor said.

He urged INEC to carefully look into the allegation, saying that it was a treasonable offence, capable of truncating the country’s democracy, if proven to be true.

He also challenged the security agencies to carry out painstaking investigations into the matter, vis-a-vis the governor’s alleged involvement in the saga.

“We commend the shrewdness and dexterity brought to bear by our candidate in exposing the suspected monumental electoral malfeasance,” Opuruozor said.

IPAC, Imo Govt urge caution among politicians

Meanwhile, state chapter of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), including the Imo State Government have called for caution in the handling of the alleged compromise of the INEC voter register in the state.

They also urged politicians to desist from any act capable of hitting up the polity ahead of the 2023 general elections. They made the call in separate reactions to the claim by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) that the voter register in Imo and 20 other states had been compromised.

The Spokesman for CUPP, Mr Ikenga Ugochinyere, had alleged that inflated figures and fictitious names were uncovered in the voter register for Omuma Ward of Gov. Hope Uzodimma. The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Declan Emelumba, dismissed the allegation as “reckless, irresponsible and seditious.

“It could only have come from a jaundiced, mischievous mindset,” he said. Emelumba said that the establishment of a tertiary institution at Omuma could have accounted for the existence of non-Igbo names in the voter register.

According to him, only those who hack INEC’s server can gain access to the commission’s information that has yet to be brought to public knowledge.

He, therefore, urged relevant security agencies to arrest and investigate CUPP and its spokesman, in order to ascertain their source of information.

“Imo is not on INEC’s official list of states guilty of fictitious registration of voters and INEC has not completed the Automated Biometric Verification of the system.

“The exercise must be concluded before an official voter register can be released to the public. It is therefore clear that Ugochinyere has either hacked into INEC server and doctored documents there or forged the document he was brandishing.

“Either way is criminal and it is important that he is immediately arrested for questioning,” the commissioner said.

Also reacting, the state Chairman of IPAC, Mr Levi Ekeh, said it was premature to make such allegation when INEC had yet to publish a cleaned up voter register for public scrutiny.

Ekeh said INEC had no doubt introduced a lot of innovations to allay peoples’ fear regarding the 2023 General Elections.

“We as a body commend their good efforts so far. At the same time, we caution them that Imo people, Nigerians and the entire world are watching them as unbiased umpires to deliver free, credible, fair and acceptable elections in 2023.

“In line with the Electoral Act, after the Automated Biometric Identification System and clean up, the commission shall display the voter register for seven days for the public to scrutinise and raise objections and complaints,” Ekeh said.

He said that the allegation by CUPP could only become an issue, if INEC failed to address the objections and complaints raised.

He said that INEC would publish the final register after treating the objections and complaints.

While recognising the rights of citizens to speak out in a democratic process, IPAC called for patience and understanding at this critical moment of the country’s electoral process.

September 18, 2022
INEC voters list swells to 96.2 million as Lagos, Kano top other states

Like in previous elections since 1999, Lagos and Kano top other states of Nigeria regarding the number of voters registered by INEC which has risen from 84 million to 96.2 million in total.

INEC’s latest voter statistics states that 12.2 million voters have been registered in the Continuous Voter Registration ( CVR) which closed on Sunday, 31st July, 2022.

INEC revealed that the North-West geopolitical zone, which comprises the seven states of Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi and Jigawa, with a total of 22.67 million registered voters, has the highest number of registered voters.

As of the 2019 elections, the North-West had 20.15 million voters.

The latest report however released by INEC showed that 2.5 million new voters registered during the recently concluded continuous voter registration , bringing the total number of registered voters in the zone to 22.67 million. The South-West, which earlier had 16.29 million registered voters, now has 18.3 million, having added 2, 039, 982 new registered voters. The zone comprises Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo.

Related Story:

Fresh voters re gistration hits 10.4m as INEC suspends CVR

INEC staff not arrested anywhere in Lagos— REC

In third position is the South-South which comprises Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Bayelsa, Edo and Delta states. The number of registered voters in the zone has risen from 12.8 million to 15.2 million.

The North-Central which is made up of Nasarawa, Kogi, Benue, Niger, Kwara and Plateau, now has 14.1 million voters while the North-East which is made up of Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe, added 1.5 million new voters to reach 12.8 million registered voters.

The South-East, which is the smallest geopolitical zone, and consists of five states – Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Anambra and Imo – now has 11.49 million voters while the number of registered voters in the Federal Capital Territory has increased from 1.3 million to 1.5 million.

Lagos maintained its position as the state with the highest number of registered voters, increasing its figure from 6.5 million to 7.1 million. Kano State also maintained its second position, adding 569, 103 new voters to increase its number to 6.02 million.

Kaduna State now has 4.4 million registered voters while Rivers State has now overtaken Katsina as the fourth largest state in terms of voters. While Rivers now has 3.68 million voters, Katsina has 3.57 million.

Some other states with a sizeable number of registered voters are Delta (3.3 million) and Oyo (3.3 million) Also, Ekiti retained its position as the state with the lowest number of registered voters despite rising from 909, 967 registered voters to 1, 034, 911.

A breakdown of INEC’s report also showed that about 71 per cent of the newly registered voters are youths. Of the 12.2 million newly registered voters, about 8.7 million are between the ages of 18 and 34 while about 2.4 million are between ages 35 and 49. Those between ages 50 and 69 are about 856, 017 while about 127, 541 are over 70.

The statistics also showed that more women registered during the latest CVR than men. While 6,224,866 are women, 6,074,078 are men.

Speaking at the post-election training audit for the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun in Abuja on Monday, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Board of The Electoral Institute, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru, said youths and women constituted the majority of voters.

Reacting to the development, political science lecturer with the Federal University Lokoja, Dr Aminu Isa said politicians need to wake up to the new reality the seemingly heightened political consciousness is beginning to have on the people.

He added that the 2023 dispensation could be s defining moment as many upsets would be on the cards if ‘smaller’ political parties put their acts together abd tailor their campaigns on data and statistics.

“The indices are there. Currently we are strike. Universities have been closed for more than five months which is one of the longest in the history of ASUU. Inflation rate is higher by the day as life gets more and more difficult.

“Security is worsening. Everybody is now afraid to travel from one place to the other. People are running scared. Jobs are not easy to come by.

“These issues that affect everybody in the country. Do the opposition parties have alternative to these things that people are facing? How do they want to bring succcour to the people? These tbings matter.

“With the current electoral system, the ‘big guys’ are obviously going to depend on vote-buying. So, those who dont have money can encourage the voters to collect their monies and vote for those that sould bring changes to the system and make the country better. If they tailor their messages well, I am sure they would get a look-in from the voters.”

August 2, 2022
Fresh voters’ registration hits 10.4m as INEC suspends CVR

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it recorded 10.4 million fresh registration in the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) before its suspension on July 31.

INEC said this in its CVR Update for Quarter 4, week 16, released on Monday, Aug. 1 in Abuja.

The commission also said that during the period, 12.2 million registrants completed their registrations, of which 3.4 million registered online, while 8.8 million registered through physical registration.

INEC gave the gender breakdown of the registrants who completed their registrations to be, 6,074,078 male and 6,224,866 female.

The update also showed that 8,784,677 of the registrants that completed their registrations were youths, 2,430,709 middle aged, 956,017 elderly, 127,541 old persons, while 87,083 were Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).

INEC also said that during the period of CVR, the commission received 31,098,013 applications including those for voter transfer, requests for replacement of PVCs, update of voter information record, etc, of which 216,442 was from PWDs.

It gave the gender breakdown of those who applied to be 16,148,645 for male and 14,949,368 from women.

A breakdown of the completed registration by states showed that Lagos has the highest number of registrants that completed their registration with 585,629 registrants, followed by Kano with 569,103 and Delta with 523,517.

Ekiti has the lowest number of people who completed registration with 124,844, followed by Yobe 152,414, FCT 211,341 and Imo with 213, 270.

The last CVR commenced in April 2017 and ended in August 2018, in the lead-up to the 2019 general elections.

It was scheduled to resume in the first quarter of 2020 but was suspended following the break out of COVID-19 pandemic.

However, INEC resumed the exercise on June 28, 2021 and suspended it on July 31.

August 1, 2022
INEC urged to further extend deadline for CVR

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for Good Governance has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to further extend the July 31 deadline for the suspension of ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

The coalition made the appeal in a letter signed by its Convener, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, addressed to INEC Chairman and submitted at the commission’s headquarters on Friday in Abuja.

According to the letter, the CSOs urged INEC to magnanimously consider extending the deadline for the exercise in favour of the 2023 general elections.

The CSOs said that its appeal was anchored on information reaching it from several parts of the country, across the six geo-political zones.

It stated that large segments of the population have not been able to register after queuing up at various registration centres without any hope of being registered.

“If this deadline is not extended, millions of Nigerians will be disenfranchised and since this problem may enhance the narrative of marginalisation, which cannot augur well for democracy in Nigeria.

“During the anticipated extension of the deadline for voter registration, INEC will have the opportunity of addressing the lapses which have been experienced.

“By law, INEC enjoys the liberty of official closure of 90 days to the elections, so extending it by at least one month will enable good citizens of Nigeria to register,” the letter stated.

Ndubuaku, who led members of the society in a protest to submit the letter, urged INEC to consider the plead of Nigerians.

“Somebody might say even if you extend it forever some people might not still register. But so long that we still have crowd at the centres it means that we still have people who are waiting.

“Some people are afraid that they may not be able to register in the remaining two days.

“We know the tenacity of INEC that you can extend it a little bit, which will still be within the law.

“We know you have extended it several times. You have tried, but all over the country there are still long queues,” Ndubuaku said.

He said while the coalition could not force INEC to extend it as well as know its constraints, they believe that INEC could still consider the request, “even if it is to ask for more fund which is justifiable”.

Ndubuaku said that if the request could be granted, the coalition made up of about 25 CSOs, would mobilise support of NIgerians for INEC on the exercise.

Receiving the letter, the Assistant Director, Security Unit, INEC, Mrs Endurance Babaginda, said that the letter would be forwarded to the INEC chairman.

The commission has fixed July 31 as the deadline to allow it perform the legal requirements it has to undertake before the general elections.

These includes Clean-up of voter register, display details of the newly registrants at each of the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) across the 774 Local Government Areas and printing of millions of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

The deadline was earlier fixed for June 30.

The exercise was also extended to eight hours daily from 9 a.m – 5 p.m instead of the previous duration of six hours (9 a.m – 3 p.m) daily; including weekends.

Registrations from 2011 don’t need revalidation – INEC

Meanwhile, the INEC in Lagos State said PVCs issued by the commission since 2011 till date do not expire and there is no need for any revalidation.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, made this clarification in a statement on Saturday to reduce crowd at various Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the state.

There has been huge surge in most voter enrollment centres in the state ahead of July 31 CVR deadline.

There have been speculation on social media that old PVCs needed some revalidation, hence the reason why many people besiege CVR centres daily, while some engage in double and multiple registrations.

Agbaje also appealed to those who are not registering for the first time or do not have any issue with PVC or fingerprint during accreditation in any past election not to visit the designated voter enrollment centres.

Agbaje said: “The commission wishes to reiterate that Permanent Voter Cards issued by the independent National Electoral Commission since 2011 till date do not expire and no need for any revalidation.

“The PVC will work very well with the commission’s new technology code, named Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS), as witnessed in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections recently conducted by the commission.

“The commission once again appeals to those who are not registering for the first time or do not have any issue with PVC or fingerprint during accreditation in any past election not to visit the designated Physical CVR Centres but address transfer and PVC incidences like damage, deface or loss on the commission’s online portal to reduce the crowd.”

He said that the CVR, which commenced on June 28, 2021, would end on July 31.

According to him, all eligible citizens that are yet to register should visit any of the CVR Centres at the INEC headquarters office in Sabo-Yaba.

Agbaje noted that they could also go to INEC offices in the 20 local government arears or scheduled wards to do so.

“The commission is ready to capture all eligible citizens before the end of the exercise,” he added.

Agbaje said that those that were eligible to register at the CVR centres included Nigerians who had clocked 18 years and above and had not registered before.

The INEC boss added that registered voters who had had any problem during accreditation for any past election with either PVC or their fingerprints not being read by the Smart Card Reader.

He said that registered voters who wanted to transfer their voting location from one place to another, correct issues with their data or those whose PVCs were damaged, defaced or lost did not need to visit the CVR Centres but visit the commission’s online CVR platforms; https://cvr.inecnigeria org or https://cvr.inec.gov.ng to address the issue as the case may be.

July 30, 2022
INEC to deploy 200,000 BVAS in 2023 general elections

INEC National Commissioner in charge of Abia, Anambra and Benue, Mr Festus Okoye, has said that the commission will deploy over 200,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the 2023 general elections.

Okoye, who was in Abia to monitor the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), said this during an interactive session with newsmen in Umuahia on Friday.

He said that the BVAS would be deployed in the 176,000 polling units across the country. He said that the surplus would be kept handy as reserve.

“We will have one BVAS reserve in every Registration Area Centre (RAC) to ensure immediate intervention in case of any failure,” he said.

He further said that Technical Officers would be on standby at every RAC to attend to any technical issues that could arise in the course of the polls.

Okoye, who is the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said that the commission had the capacity to conduct seamless general elections in 2023.

According to him, the commission is poised to replicate the achievements and successes recorded in the Ekiti and Osun Gubernatorial Elections.

He attributed the commission’s feat in the two elections to the deployment of technology.

He said that the deployment of technology and outcomes of the elections “have given Nigerians fresh hopes”.

He said that 2023 offered the commission an opportunity to improve on its record.

“The Chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, has assured Nigerians that this commission is determined to conduct good elections to make sure that votes count.

“The commission will deploy technology to obviate human interferences to undermine its efforts,” Okoye said.

He expressed delight over the large turnout of young Nigerians for the CVR. He said that of the 11 million Nigerians that had completed their registration, about 7.8 million were between 18 years and 34 years.

“The interest shown by the young Nigerians meant that the future of the country is bright. The youths have shown that the PVC has power and they are ready to use it to make a change.

“The PVC has power and value. It is not enough to obtain your PVC. You must come out and vote on the day of the election,” he said.

Okoye further said that as at July 25, INEC’s record showed that about 28.5 million prospective voters registered online.

He said the figure included fresh registrants and those for transfers, destroyed, defaced and lost voter cards.

He also said that the commission had integrated Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the electoral process.

The INEC chieftain said that 34 Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers in the Osun election were PWDs.

He said that the commission would provide special equipment, including magnifying glasses, brailes and other aids for PWDs during the 2023 polls.

He also said that expectant and nursing mothers would be given preferential treatment during the polls.

Okoye said that the commission had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers as part of the efforts to ensure speedy distribution of electoral materials on the election day.

He said that Electoral Officers at the local government areas would also arrange with the local transport workers for the movement of materials.

He also said that the commission was discussing with the Police for the timely deployment of personnel to escort materials to polling units.

Okoye further said that the commission had begun intensive discussion with all the security agencies on ways to provide adequate security on the election day “so that the electorate would be confident to go out to vote”.

He said that the July 31 deadline for the CVR remained sacrosanct. He said that the commission had enormous task to accomplish ahead of the election proper, hence could not afford another extension.

He said that the CVR had lasted for over a year and that INEC would not glorify “the last minute rush attitutde” of some Nigerians.

Addressing a crowd of prospective registrants at the INEC office, he advised them not to engage in double registration.

“This exercise is exclusively for those who have not registered before and those that have just attained age 18,” he said.

He warned that double and multiple registrations were criminal offences and amounted to exercise in futility.

“At the end of the CVR, the commission will carry out a de-duplication to remove double and multiple registrations,” Okoye said.

He also spoke on the efforts by the commission to check “voter suppression” through vote buying by desperate politicians and their agents.

He said that the commission was collaborating with DSS and EFCC to effectively checkmate the ugly phenomenon.

He said that the commission had yet to get concrete evidence regarding the allegations of under-aged registration in some parts of the country.

He challenged communities to help arrest the illegal act, saying it could only take place with the complicity of the people.

Okoye said that PVCs had no expiry date and that it was not true that those obtained in 2011 needed to be invalidated.

He also said that investigation was still ongoing to uncover the facts surrounding the millions of PVCs reportedly found in one of the states in the country.

He said that a preliminary investigation by the commission with some samples of the PVCs did not give any clues as to the owners and state they originated from.

July 29, 2022
INEC announces new deadline for voters’ registration

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced a new deadline for the ongoing continuous voter’s registration (CVR) exercise.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the new deadline is 31st July 2022, according to the electoral management body in a statement by Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, INEC.

The statement reads: “The Commission met in an extraordinary session today, Friday 15th July 2022, and discussed among other things, the suspension of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

“This followed the judgement delivered by the Federal High Court on Wednesday 13th July 2022 in which it dismissed the suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) which is seeking an extension of the exercise beyond 30th June 2022.

“The Court has affirmed that INEC is at liberty to appoint a date of its choice to suspend the CVR. provided it is not later than 90 days before the date fixed for the General Election as provided in Sec. 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022.

“In compliance with the interim injunction of the Court pending the determination of the substantive suit, and in order to enable more Nigerians to register, the Commission continued with the CVR beyond 30th June 2022. For this reason, the CVR has already been extended beyond 30th June 2022 for a period of 15 days.

“With the judgement of the Federal High Court, all legal encumbrances have now been removed. Accordingly, the Commission has taken the following decisions:

“The CVR 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); the exercise has also been extended to eight hours daily from 9.00am – 5.00pm instead of the current duration of six hours (9.00am – 3.00pm) daily; and the exercise is also extended to include weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) as against only weekdays”.

“We appreciate that the timeframe may be tight for many prospective registrants, but there is a lot that the Commission is required to do under the electoral legal framework in relation to voter registration and compilation of the register that will require time to accomplish.

“For instance, the Commission is required to: Clean-up of the register to remove multiple registrants using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS); Consolidate the national register of voters (existing voters and new registrants) and display same on Polling Unit basis for each of the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) across the 774 Local Government Areas nationwide for public scrutiny. This lasts for a period of one week. On the basis of a new projection of 95 million voters, on the basis of 10 voters per page, the Commission has to print 9,500,000 pages for the display:

“Print millions of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) for all fresh registrants and applicants for transfer and replacement of lost or damaged PVCs: Ensure that there is ample time for voters to collect their PVCs ahead of the 2023 General Election: Print the final register of voters in triplicate for the 2023 General Election involving a projected 28,500,000 pages for accreditation and display at 176,846 polling units for national elections (Presidential and National Assembly) on 25th February 2023 and State elections (Governorship and State Assembly) on 11th March 2023; and 6. Make copies of the updated national register of voters available to political parties not later than 30 days to the date fixed for the General Election.

“We appeal for the patience and understanding of all Nigerians as we conclude the exercise which will resume after the 2023 General Election.

“We observed that following the continuation of the exercise beyond 30th June 2022, many of the registration centres recorded low turnout of prospective registrants. With this two-week extension, we appeal to eligible citizens not to wait until the last few days before they inundate the centres again to register.

“We appreciate the interest of Nigerians to register and participate in the electoral process and once again reiterate our commitment to credible and transparent elections. This can only be achieved with the support and cooperation of all Nigerians”.

July 15, 2022