By InfactNG
There are worries about the conduct of the 2023 general elections as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC said it recorded 45% invalid registration as at 14th January, 2022. The Chairman, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu revealed this at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to INEC figures made available to journalists, a total of 2,523,458 CVR were completely registered while 1,126,359 were said to be invalid.
While giving update on the ongoing voters registration exercise, Yakubu lamented on the troubling issue of invalid registration while cleaning up the latest registration data. Blaming the rise of invalid registration, the chairman said “it seems that many registrants, either out of ignorance that they do not need to re-register if they had done so before, or a belief that our systems will not detect this infraction, have gone out to register again. This is despite repeated warnings by the Commission against this illegal action.
“In addition, there are also registrants whose data were incomplete and did not meet our Business Rules for inclusion in the register. Both categories i.e. the failure of ABIS and incomplete data constitute invalid registrations. Presently, nearly 45% of completed registrations nationwide are invalid, rising to as high as 60% or more in some States. This infraction happened in all States of the Federation. No State is immune from it. These invalid registrations will not be included in the Register of Voters.”
The chairman added: “I wish to seize this opportunity to request political parties, the media, civil society organizations and the general public to assist the Commission in educating Nigerians about the problem of invalid registration.
“As we have repeatedly explained, if you had at any time in the past registered to vote, you do not have to reregister. If you have registered in the past, you should not get involved in the CVR again unless you have had problems with your PVC or fingerprint recognition during accreditation in any previous election. In that case, all you need to do is to revalidate your registration by visiting a designated registration centre to recapture your fingerprints and picture.
“Other registered persons who may also get involved in the CVR are those whose PVCs are missing or defaced; those whose details need correction and those seeking to transfer from their current places of voting to other locations. These cases do not involve new registration. Apart from these, the CVR is essentially for Nigerians who have attained the age of 18 years and have not registered earlier.”
