. . . Says8,260,076eligible Nigerians have commenced online pre-registration

By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

With 396 days to the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has declared its readiness to conclude all the critical preparations this year.

Making the declaration at the first quarterly meeting with political parties for the new year, the INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu said that the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) which commenced in June last year has entered the third quarter.

He said as at Monday, January 17, 2022, that a total of 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online pre-registration, completed the registration physically or applied for transfer to new voting locations, replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) or updated their voter information records as required by law.

Yakubu said the Commission has been publishing weekly progress reports of the exercise, saying: “We are aware that Nigerians want to know when their PVCs will be available for collection.

“At the moment, the Commission is undertaking the most comprehensive cleaning up of the data to ensure that only eligible citizens are added to the voters’ register for the 2023 General Election and will share our findings with Nigerians and the actual dates for the collection of the PVCs nationwide will be announced very soon.

“I want to request that you continue to encourage eligible voters who have not registered to do so, bearing in mind that those who had registered at any time previously need not register again.

“Also, encourage voters who wish to transfer from their present Polling Units to new ones created as part of the Commission’s expansion of voter access polling units to do so immediately.”

The INEC boss said that the Commission has released the Timetable for six bye-elections in four States of the Federation saying that the elections are scheduled to hold on Saturday 26th February 2022.

While saying that the detailed timetable was already uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms, he said the Commission has also decided that the suspended Ekiti East I State Constituency bye-election will be combined with the State Governorship election holding on 18th June 2022.

He added: “The date for the Shinkafi State Constituency bye-election in Zamfara State will be announced after a thorough review of the security situation in the area, while the Commission awaits the declaration of vacancy by the Kaduna State House of Assembly in respect of Giwa West State Constituency.

“Turning to the major end-of-tenure and off-cycle elections, party primaries for the Ekiti State Governorship election are scheduled for 4th – 29th January 2022. For the Osun State Governorship election, primaries will hold from 16th February to 12th March 2022.

“In the case of Ekiti State, all the 18 political parties have served the mandatory notices for the primaries. Let me seize this opportunity to draw the attention of parties to the necessity for transparent and rancour-free primaries.

“Parties should also respect their chosen dates for the primaries based on the Commission’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities.

“Already, many parties have rescheduled their primaries several times. While the Commission has earmarked a period of three weeks and 4 days (i.e. 25 days) for the conduct of the Ekiti State Governorship primaries, virtually all political parties have decided to hold their primaries in the last 4 days i.e. 26th – 29th January 2022.

“In fact, seven political parties have chosen the last day for their primaries. Similarly, no party has so far submitted its list of aspirants, the composition of its electoral panel, or the register of members or list of delegates depending on the chosen mode for electing its candidates. As at yesterday, only one party has indicated the venue for its primaries. I urge you all to do so immediately to enable us to work out the detailed plans for monitoring the primaries.”

Yakubu stated that all primaries for electing candidates must take place in the constituency where election will hold as required by law.

In the cases of Ekiti and Osun State governorship elections, he warned that any primaries conducted outside the two states will not be monitored by the commission and their outcomes will not be accepted.

He said the rule also applies to primaries for bye-elections conducted outside the constituencies.

On the Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections, he said that major activities have already been carried out, including the conduct of primaries and nomination of candidates by political parties.

“Only last week, the Commission presented the register of voters to political parties while the PVCs for new registrants, requests for transfers and replacement of cards have been printed and delivered several weeks ago to our FCT office for collection by voters.

“In the next few weeks, the Commission will intensify stakeholder engagements, the monitoring of campaigns by political parties and preparations for Election Day activities.

“The distribution of voters to Polling Units in the FCT, particularly the fact that 593 out of 2,822 or 21% of the total, do not have voters. This is because voters failed to take advantage of the expansion of access to transfer to these new Polling Units. The detailed distribution of voters to Polling Units in the FCT is among the documents in your folders for this meeting,” he stated.

The chairman emphasised that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed in the FCT elections which is the second major election after the Anambra Governorship election held in November last year.

He said that the 68 constituencies in the FCT (six Chairmen and 62 Councillors) covering extensive urban and rural locations sharing border with five States in the North Central and North Western parts of the country is another opportunity to pilot the efficacy of the BVAS in a different geographical, geo-political and electoral context.

According to him, same technology will be deployed in all forthcoming bye-elections across the country.

He added: “For all elections going forward, Polling Unit results will be uploaded in real-time to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

“On the Electoral Amendment Bill currently before the National Assembly, the Commission is encouraged by the Senate President’s assurance to give priority attention to the Bill when the National Assembly reconvenes from its recess today, and the commitment by the President to assent to the Bill as soon as the issue of mode of primaries by political parties is resolved.

“We look forward to a speedy passage of the Bill, which is crucial to our preparations for future elections. As soon as it is signed into law, the Commission will quickly release the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election based on the new law.”