As required by the provision of Section seventy-seven of the Electoral Act 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has asked political parties to maintain a membership register in hard and soft copies and make such register available to the Commission not later than thirty days before the date fixed for party primaries, congresses and conventions.
The Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who made the request at the second quarterly consultative meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja, said though it is a mandatory requirement and all parties are required to comply, only one political party has complied so far.
He noted that there can be no credible primary or general election without a credible register of voters.
Professor Yakubu said to enable more Nigerians register as voters, the Commission created additional centres to devolve the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise beyond it’s State and Local Government offices nationwide, thereby activating a total of two thousand six hundred and seventy- three centres nationwide, training more personnel, deploying additional machines and intensifying voter education.
He expressed concerns over the safety of the Commission’s equipment, personnel and Nigerians who come out to register at the various registration centres, as well as the printed Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs made available for collection by registered voters, saying that based on the urgency of the situation in Anambra State, the CVR has been suspended in all the fourty-two additional centres and confined to their State and Local Government offices, except in Nnewi South and Ogbaru Local Government Areas, where the exercise has also been temporarily suspended
The INEC boss reiterated that despite the security challenges, the Commission is resolute in its determination to conduct the 2023 General Election as scheduled and every eligible Nigerian must be allowed to vote, including citizens in the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps.
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