As the continuous voter registration came to an end on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of voters have expressed frustration over the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission to extend the exercise, describing it as a way to disenfranchise them.
INEC began the nationwide registration in June 2021 to enable Nigerians who had just attained the voting age and others to register.
The electoral body planned to terminate the CVR on June 30, 2022, but a civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project on June 5 filed a suit at the Federal High Court seeking an extension of the exercise beyond that date.
Consequently, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon on June 20 granted an order of interim injunction stopping INEC from stopping the registration exercise.
In compliance with the order, the electoral body extended the exercise till July 31.
Despite the extension, however, hundreds of applicants have continued to besiege registration centres nationwide in a bid to register before the deadline.
Sources say the inability of INEC to register as many voters as they could is because of limited numbers of machines. An INEC worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said, ‘’We requested for more machines for registration but only four machines were provided. For more than two months, there is not a single day we finished registering people that turned out to register. We always have left-over. We register about 1,000 people every day with the four machines. It is not within our powers to extend the registration.’’
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, was quoted as saying that the commission would not be able to extend the deadline because there is a lot that it still needs to do ahead of the election.
“The commission is pleased to see the renewed citizens’ interest in the Continuous Voter Registration exercise. Unfortunately, the CVR would have to be suspended today July 31, because there is a lot that the commission is required to do under the electoral legal framework, in relation to voter registration and the process of compiling the register requires ample time to accomplish,” Oyekanmi said.
He added that INEC would need to clean-up the voter register in order to remove multiple registrants using the Automated Biometric Identification System.
Oyekanmi added that the electoral body would also need to consolidate the national register of existing voters and new registrants and display the same on polling unit basis for each of the 8,809 wards across the 774 Local Government Areas nationwide for public scrutiny.
“The commission needs to print millions of permanent voter cards for all fresh registrants and applicants for transfer and replacement of lost or damaged PVCs; and ensure that there is ample time for voters to collect their PVCs ahead of the 2023 general elections,” he stated.