INEC vows to punish errant officials over dubious voter registers

INEC says it will thoroughly investigate cases of infractions in the ongoing display of the register of voters across the country

News Agency of Nigeria • November 18, 2022

The Independent National Electoral Commission will thoroughly investigate cases of infractions in the ongoing display of the register of voters across the country, says Festus Okoye, INEC’s national commissioner.

Mr Okoye disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, stating that culpable officials would be disciplined.

“The display of all registrants shows INEC’s commitment to transparency.

He recalled that on November 12, the commission published a preliminary national register of voters in its 8,809 registration areas (wards) and 774 local government area offices nationwide.

He said that, similarly, the entire register had been published on the commission’s website for the first time in the nation’s electoral history and that the purpose of the display is to enable Nigerians to scrutinise the preliminary register and make claims about misspellings of names, personal details or missing names on the register so that the errors could be corrected.

“In addition, citizens can raise objections about the presence of ineligible persons, for example, those below the age of 18 years, dead persons, foreigners, or those making false claims so that they can be deleted from the register in line with the commission’s established rules,” added the INEC commissioner. “First, at the registration area level from November 12 to 18, which comes to an end tomorrow, and thereafter, at the local government level from November 19 to 25.”

He said that the display would be followed by a hearing of claims and objections by citizens for disposal action, pointing out that INEC has been harvesting the claims and objections.

“At the end of the exercise, all claims and objections made will be addressed. In this way, citizens are contributing to strengthening our electoral process,” said Mr Okoye. “The full display of all registrants speaks to the commission’s commitment to transparency. The fact that these likely ineligible registrants are being identified means that the objectives of the display for claims and objections are being met.”

Mr Okoye urged the public to follow the procedures and report these objections for the necessary action of the commission.

(NAN)

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