By David Lawani
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday clarified that out of the over two million registrants it recorded between 2021 and January 2022, it has deleted over one million found to be invalid from its database.
The commission said the efforts as part of its clean-up exercise to ensure that only valid registrants would vote and be voted for during the 2023 general elections.
National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, made this known in a statement.
He described the importance of the need to clean up the register to avoid unnecessary wastage.
Okoye said the Commission would ensure that the process was concluded so that no valid registrants were prevented from getting his card and deployed to use where it is most important.
He said, “As Nigerians are aware, the cleaning up of the register of voters using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is ongoing since the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on 31st July 2022.
“Earlier, 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, 1,126,359 (One million, one hundred and twenty-six thousand, three hundred and fifty-nine) records were found to be invalid and consequently delisted.
Military destroys B’ Haram hospital in Sambisa forest
Military destroys B’ Haram hospital in Sambisa forest
“The ABIS for the period – 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.
“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.
“We reassure 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 as promised,” he noted.
