The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has declared 2,780,756 (22.6%) out of the 12,298,944 newly registered voters in the recently concluded Continuous Voters Register as invalid.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman, who disclosed this at the third quarterly meeting with political parties for the year 2022 held in Abuja, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, said that the commission identified the invalidated voters as ineligible registrants.
Among those affected are double/multiple registrants, underage persons and outrightly fake registrations that fail to meet the commission’s business rules.
This will put the total number of valid registrations in the just concluded CVR exercise at 9,518,188.
The INEC boss also revealed that 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 Elections.
He added that the commission is working tirelessly towards making sure that it is ready for the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
“Already, we are at the most critical stage in the implementation of the activities in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the General Election. Working with political parties and other stakeholders, the Commission has so far successfully implemented nine of the 14 activities for the General Election. We are also making a steady progress in other critical areas of preparation for the election, including the provision of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, the recruitment of staff and planning for the movement of personnel and materials for the 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 Local Government Areas 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 12th – Friday 25th November 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 said.
