Preliminary register of voters stands at 93.5m -INEC

 

.Sanctions 23 staff over alleged unethical conduct

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the number of registered voters in Nigeria, has risen from 84,004,084 to 93,522,272, following the addition of 9,518,188 newly registered voters.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman, INEC Chairman, said this at third quarterly meeting with political parties for 2022 on Wednesday in Abuja.

Yakubu said that the figure was preliminary as Section 19(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 required the commission to display the hard copies of the register of voters for each Registration Area (ward) and Local Government Area (LGA).

He added that INEC was also required to simultaneously publish the entire register on its website for two weeks for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens not later than 90 days to a general election.

“Accordingly, in the next few days, the commission will print 9,352,228 pages of the register.

“The hard copy will be displayed for each of the 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) and 774 LGAs nationwide while the entire register will be published on our website for claims and objections as required by law.

“The display of the physical register will take place at the designated centers from Saturday ,Nov. 12 to Friday, Nov. 25.

“Further details, including the procedure for filing claims and objections, would be released by the commission next week,’’ he said.

Yakubu appealed to the electorate to seize the opportunity of the display to scrutinise the list and help INEC to clean it up further so that the final register of voters for the 2023 general election can be compiled and published.

 

He said that 12,298,944 Nigerians successfully completed the registration as new voters during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which started on June 28 before its suspension on July 31.

 

Yakubu said that after a rigorous cleaning-up of the data using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), a total of 2,780,756 (22.6 per cent) was identified as ineligible registrants and invalidated from the record.

 

The INEC chairman said among those affected were double/multiple registrants, under aged persons and out rightly fake registrations that failed to meet the commission’s business rules.

 

“Consequently, the number of valid registrations (post-ABIS) is 9,518,188.

 

 

“In terms of demographic distribution, 7.2 million new voters or 76.5 per cent are young people between 18-34 years while there is a slightly higher number of female (4.8 million or 50.82 per cent) than male (4.6 million or 49.18 per cent) voters.

 

“In terms of occupation, 3.8 million (40.8 per cent) are students. Hard copies giving the full details of the distribution of the new voters are included in your folders for this meeting.

 

“The soft copy has already been uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms,’’ he said.

He said that INEC was working to ensure the completion of printing of remaining PVCs for new voters as well as those that applied for transfer or the replacement of their lost or damaged cards.

 

Yakubu said that in the coming days, INEC would inform Nigerians of its detailed plans to ensure a seamless collection of the PVCs.

 

He said that INEC had so far successfully implemented nine of the 14 activities for the 2023 general election.

 

He added that the commission was making a steady progress in other critical areas of preparations for the election.

 

This according to Yakubu, includes the provision of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, the recruitment of staff and planning for the movement of personnel and materials for the election.

 

“Only last week, we commenced the training of master trainers on election technology to ensure a seamless process.

 

“Beginning from tomorrow, we will commence the same training at zonal level and subsequently train all the ad hoc staff for the 176,846 polling units nationwide,’’ he said.

 

Yakubu said that incidence form would not be used in 2023 general election, saying there was no going back on the deployment of technology for the election.

 

“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 election.

 

“We are committed to ensuring that the 2023 general election is transparent and credible, reflecting the will of the Nigerian people,’’ he said

 

it has added 9,518,188 new voters to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters, as the preliminary register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has added 9,518,188 new voters to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters, as the preliminary register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272.

 

Also,The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has began severe disciplinary actions against 23 staff members of the commission involved in unethical conduct during the Continuous Voter registration (CVR)..

 

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this at third quarterly meeting with political parties for the year 2022 held on Wednesday in Abuja.

 

Yakubu said that the commission deployed thousands of diligent staff members for the CVR  which started on June 28, until it was suspended on July 31.

 

“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 case, 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 began.

 

“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.’’

 

Yakubu again cautioned political parties, candidates and their supporters to eschew violence during the electioneering campaign for the 2023 general elections.

 

“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.’’

 

Yakubu said that as the elections draw closer there would be need for the commission to meet more frequently with leaders of political parties.

 

He urged party leaders to make themselves available for discussion even as they were busy with campaign activities, to enable the commission meet its obligations.

 

“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.

 

“So if we invite you again, maybe as early as next week, please oblige us in spite of your busy campaign schedules.

 

“We are also going to invite you next week to inspect samples of the materials to be used for the general election, as required by section 42 of the Electoral Act. So kindly oblige us.’’

 

Yakubu added that letters of invitation would also be sent to all the political parties, as required by law to inspect election materials before the printing of the materials.

 

“Thereafter, we can speedily commence the process of printing over 570 million ballot papers for the 2023 general elections.

 

“By the time you add the results, sheets and other forms and envelopes that we are going to print will print close to one billion ballot papers, results sheets and other materials.

 

“So, the earlier we start this, the better and from today, we only have four months and one day to the next general election.