Ahead of the 2023 general elections, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reassured Nigerians that a thorough process is being undertaken to clean up the registration data. Similarly, Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for all valid registrants will be available for collection by the end of October/early November.
This is as the commission delisted One million, one hundred and twenty-six thousand, three hundred and fifty-nine with multiple registrations. This was contained in a press statement by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Bar. Festus Okoye. Recall that, the Commission informed Nigerians that out of the 2, 523,458 (Two million, five hundred and twenty-three thousand, four hundred and fifty-eight) fresh registrants that registered between 28th June 2021 and 14th January 2022.
While the cleaning up of the register of voters using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) has been ongoing since the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on 31st July 2022. According to Okoye, the ABIS for the period of 15th January to 31st July 2022 is almost completed. Several double, multiple and ineligible registrants have also been detected and invalidated. These include entries that fail to meet the Commission’s business rules. The Commission takes this responsibility seriously because a credible register is at the heart of electoral integrity.
He added that, as soon as the process is concluded, the Commission will provide the public with full information as usual. Thereafter, valid registrants will be added to the existing national register of voters before publishing the same nationwide for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens as required by section 19 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022.
