CVR: INEC insists on July 31 deadline, says double registration invalid

 

ANDY ASEMOTA, Katsina and IBRAHIM QUADRI ,Lagos

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the deadline for Voters Registration exercise remains July 31, and double registration will result to not being entitled to get the PVC.

 

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC Abuja, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, said this at a news conference on the commission’s state of preparedness for the 2023 general elections, on CVR,PVC validity and  collection in Abuja.

 

Bello urged the people to not be tempted to register twice or register afresh because it would be null and void, he also persuaded them to visit registration centers close by, stating that there is no need to visit the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

 

“The number of people who registered and whose registration has been invalidated is becoming alarming; a lot of people have registered in one or two registration centres.

 

“They will get nothing by doing so whatever their intentions were, because at the end of the day, they will be declared as people without PVC at all.

 

“Any double or triple registration is null and void, we will go through our machines after these exercise and clean our register so that we can come up with the list of people who genuinely are going to in 2023.

 

“So let me appeal to people that  they should always tell our staff at registration centres exactly what they want to do ,whether they have never registered before ,they have lost their cards ,or it is defaced, or they want transfer from one place to another.

 

“The  CVR centres  remains : City Centre -Diplomatic Park, Area 1 , Gwarinpa GSS Life Camp, Wuse GSS Zone 3 , Kabusa Primary School and Lugbe Primary School.

 

“Others are  Giwa – Gwagwa Primary School,  GUI -Gosa Primary School, Karshi- Karshi Development Centre,  Orozo – Orozo Primary School.

 

“The rest are:  Nyanya – G.S.S Nyanya ,  Kubwa- L.E.A Primary School Kubwa,  Dutse-Aljaji – L.E.A Primary School Dutse, L.E.A Primary School, Dawaki L.E.A and Primary School, Mpape,” he said.

 

Bello explained that the commission is doing its best to carry everyone along as they have already started special registration for Persons With Disabilities at the designated CVR centres to ensure inclusivity.

 

He added that the commission had made an arrangement with a Civil Society Orgainsations (CSOs) to make PVC collection easier for citizens using SMS to reach them at their nearest locations.

 

The REC said that those who participated in the CVR would get their  PVCs by October and appealed to politicians, electorate and other stakeholders to cooperate with INEC to make it work .

 

meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday approved four work free days for workers in the State for them to register with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and get their Permanent Voters Cards, PVC.

 

In a statement signed by the State Head of Service, Mr Muri Okunola, the free day for workers begin from today 26th July till Friday 29th July before the deadline given by the electoral body for prospective voters to get registered.

 

The statement which was titled, ‘Collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) directed the Accpunting Officers to ensure compliance, adding that workers are expected to bring along their PVC while returning for work.

 

The statement read in part, “It is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in the Electoral process of her country, therefore, all Public Servants are encouraged to partake in the upcoming Year 2023 General Elections.

 

“Consequently, it is notified for general information that all Public Servants who are yet to register for or collect their Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) from designated INEC centres are advised do so before the deadline date of 30th July 2022.

 

“To this end, Mr Governor has graciously approved a Work Free Day for Public Servants to enable them process/collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) from their respective Local Governments/ Local Council Development Areas. Officers are expected to return back to work with their Voter’s Card after this exercise.

 

“Accordingly, Accounting Officers are hereby enjoined to excuse their officers in the respective Grade Levels on the designated dates.”

 

The designated dates, according to the Head of Service are, Tuesday 26th- Grade Levels concerned are 01, 03, 07 & 15.

 

For Wednesday 27th July, the Grade Levels affected are 02, 04, 08 & 13. Thursday 28th July, Grade Levels 05, 09, 12 & 17 while Friday 29th July is dedicated for Grade Levels 06, 10, 14 & 16.

 

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC,  in Lagos State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje had disclosed that statistics showed that the state currently had about seven million registered voters.

 

According to him, if the number of  new registrants so far in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, is added to those in the register of voters before in the state, the number will be about seven million.

 

“In Lagos state as at Monday (July 18), those who registered online are 640, 560 but many of them have not completed registration. Those who have completed the registration exercise are 451,156.

 

“The total number of registered voters in Lagos state before the commencement of the ongoing CVR is 6,570,291,  and if we add the new registrants, we have about seven million registered voters,” Agbaje said.

 

He, however, said the ongoing CVR had not ended and the commission was still capturing more people before deadline on July 31.

 

Meanwhile, Katsina State has  recorded high turn out of eligible voters in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise since last week compare with the statistics in the past months.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Jibril Ibrahim Zarewa, who revealed this in an interactive session with Katsina Press Forum on Monday, said that the state with 3,250,230 registered voters in 2019, recorded no fewer 277,974 eligible voters that had completed online and in – person (physical) registration as at 12:40pm yesterday (Monday) compared with 254,376 registered in the state as at 7pm on Monday, 18th July, 2022.

 

According to him, the sensitization on the exercise conducted by Katsina monarch, Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, and his Daura counterpart, Umaru Farouk Umar, largely accounted for the rise in the voters’ turn out.

 

The electoral commissioner, who lamented the serious impact of the suspension of telecommunication services in no fewer than 17 out of the 34 local government areas of the state last year to enable the military and security agencies tackle the wave of insecurity in the affected front line and neighbouring local government areas, said the measure also compelled INEC to suspend voters registration exercise in the areas in the corresponding period.

 

Zarewa said: “Katsina State had the largest number of local government areas that had its telecom network suspended: Five local government areas in Kaduna, four in Sokoto, 14 in Zamfara and here we had 17.”

 

On collection of Permanent Voter Card (PVC), he disclosed that the commission had issued out over 98 per cent of the 3,250,230 voters cards registered before the end of 2019.

 

“So, out of the 3,250,230 we have a balance of 48,992 cards and have issued 9,102 cards that were carried over from 2019,” he explained.

 

The REC further assured that despite the widespread cases of insecurity in the state, the commission had put in place strategic measures to ensure no eligible voters would be disenfranchised in 2023 general elections.

 

On electoral malpractices, he pointed out that the new Electoral Act had greatly assisted INEC to guarantee that human interference in electoral process would be reduced to the barest minimum through innovations.