…Sanctions 23 officials over multiple registrations
Ahead of next year’s general election, the Independent National Election Commission INEC has declared over 93.5 million Nigerians to elect new leaders especially President.
This was disclosed by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on Wednesday in Abuja during the third quarterly meeting with political parties.
“The 9,518,188 new voters have been added to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters. The PRELIMINARY register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272. It is preliminary because Section 19(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 requires the Commission to display the hard copies of the register of voters for each Registration Area (Ward) and Local Government Area (and simultaneously publish the entire register on the Commission’s website) for a period of two weeks for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens not later than 90 days to a General Election,”he said
Demographically,he said 7.2 million new voters which represents 76.5% are young people between the age bracket of 18-34 years.
According to him,there is a slightly higher number of female (4.8 million or 50.82%) than male (4.6 million or 49.18%) voters.
He further disclosed that,3.8 million (40.8%) are students.
“In terms of demographic distribution, 7.2 million new voters or 76.5% are young people between 18-34 years while there is a slightly higher number of female (4.8 million or 50.82%) than male (4.6 million or 49.18%) voters. In terms of occupation, 3.8 million (40.8%) are students. Hard copies giving the full details of the distribution of the new voters are included in your folders for this meeting,” he said
He disclosed that, the commission has identified 23 of its registration officers for severe sanctions having attempted to engage in multiple registration of Nigerians.
“The Commission deployed thousands of diligent staff for the CVR exercise and the vast majority of them discharged their duties conscientiously. Unfortunately, a few of them did not. The fictitious registrations were carried out by some of our Registration Officers involved in the field exercise and could easily be traced. Each registration machine is operated using an access code tied to a dedicated e-mail assigned to a staff.
“There is therefore an audit trail that gives the total number of persons registered by each official involved in the registration exercise. In some cases, some of them made as many as 40 attempts or more to register one fake voter. As a result, the Commission has so far identified 23 Registration Officers involved in this unethical conduct and disciplinary action has commenced.
“We shall continue to protect the integrity of our voters’ register. It is pivotal to credible elections. It is also a national asset and easily the largest database of citizens in Africa and one of the largest in the world.
At the meeting, the INEC Chairman again declared that the decision to deploy BVAS and IReV for the forthcoming polls remain intact and no going back on the use of BVAS and IReV for the elections.
He said,”only last week, INEC commenced the training of master trainers on election technology to ensure a seamless process, adding that from Thursday, INEC will commence the same training at zonal levels and subsequently train all its ad hoc staff for the 176,846 polling units nationwide.
“On this note, let me once again reassure Nigerians that there is no going back on the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS for voter accreditation. There is no going back on the transmission of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal IReV in real-time on Election Day.
“There will be no Incident Form that enables ineligible persons to vote using other people’s Permanent Voters Cards PVCs during elections. We are committed to ensuring that the 2023 General Election is transparent and credible, reflecting the will of the Nigerian people”, he stated.
Yakubu also disclosed that at the end of the recent CVR, 12,298,944 Nigerians successfully completed the registration as new voters and that after a rigorous cleaning-up of the data using the Automated Biometric Identification System ABIS, a total of 2,780,756 (22.6%) were identified as ineligible registrants and invalidated from the record.
Among those whose registrations were invalidated were double/multiple registrants, underaged persons and outrightly fake registrations that failed to meet INEC’s business rules.
“Consequently, the number of valid registrations (post-ABIS) is 9,518,188.”
“The 9,518,188 new voters have been added to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters. The preliminary register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272. It is preliminary because Section 19(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 requires the Commission to display the hard copies of the register of voters for each Registration Area (Ward) and Local Government Area (and simultaneously publish the entire register on the Commission’s website) for a period of two weeks for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens not later than 90 days to a General Election”, he stated.
Accordingly, Yakubu said in the next few days, the Commission will print 9,352,228 pages of the register, while the hard copy will be displayed for each of the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) and 774 Local Government Areas nationwide. Also, the entire register will be published on INEC’s website for claims and objections as required by law.
“The display of the physical register will take place at the designated centers from Saturday 12th – Friday 25thNovember 2022. Further details, including the procedure for filing claims and objections, will be released by the Commission next week. I would like to appeal to all Nigerians to seize the opportunity of the display to scrutinize the list and help us to clean it up further so that the final register of voters for the 2023 General Election can be compiled and published.
“The Commission is also working hard to ensure the completion of printing of remaining PVCs for new voters as well as those that applied to transfer or the replacement of their lost or damaged cards. In the coming days, we will also inform Nigerians of the detailed plan to ensure a seamless collection of the PVCs. We are aware that Nigerians expect an improvement in the procedure for PVC collection. Since the end of the CVR in July this year, we have been working to ensure that citizens have a pleasant experience when they come to collect their cards”, he stated.
He urged the political parties to conduct themselves during the campaign period adding that,the Commission will continue to track the campaigns and will not hesitate to initiate the prosecution of violators as provided by law.
“Last week, the Commission cautioned political parties, candidates and their supporters to eschew violence during the electioneering campaign. The statement was necessary against the background of clashes among supporters of different political parties, including allegations of denial of access to public facilities and the destruction of billboards and other outdoor campaign materials by acts of thuggery.
“The campaigns have just begun. As party leaders, you should remain committed to peaceful electioneering. We will continue to work together to remove encumbrances to the right of parties and candidates to freely canvass for the support of the electorate. The Commission will continue to track the campaigns and will not hesitate to initiate the prosecution of violators as provided by law.
“It is clear to the Commission that as the General Election approaches, there will be need to meet more frequently with leaders of political parties. We hope that in spite of your campaign activities, you will oblige us. In fact, we plan to invite you very soon for a discussion on political rallies and the issue of campaign finance, including the limits on expenses set by the Commission after consultation with political parties.