Just In: INEC Reacts to Court Order on Voters’ Registration, Reveals Next Step
- The Independent National Electoral Commission has revealed its position on the court order regarding Continuous Voter Registration
- Festus Okoye, INEC commissioner for information and voter education, disclosed extending the period for CVR may result in a significant percentage of invalid registrants
- Meanwhile, the commission had earlier fixed June 30 as the deadline to suspend the CVR exercise across the country ahead of the 2023 general elections
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will comply with the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja on the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
Festus Okoye, INEC's commissioner for information and voter education, made this known when he appeared on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, on Tuesday, June 21.
Although he did not specifically state whether or not the electoral umpire would go ahead with its initial plan to stop the exercise, the INEC official said the commission would continue to obey the orders of the court, Daily Trust reports.
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He said:
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“The commission is a constitutional body, and we are under a constitutional obligation to give effect to judgements and orders of properly constituted courts of law, and we are going to give effect to the order made by the Federal High Court.”
Recall that Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court in Abuja had stopped INEC from going ahead with its decision to end the CVR exercise on June 30, as scheduled.
The judge gave the ruling while granting an order of interim injunction following the hearing of an argument on motion ex parte filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
Okoye speaks further on the court's ruling
Okoye noted that the CVR exercise had been going on for the past one year and that INEC would on the 29th day of June convince the court on the adjourned date on why the exercise should be discontinued for now.
Okoye noted that there were days when the INEC officers would register only one person for a whole day.
He affirmed:
“For each day our registration officers spend registring voters, it also has financial implications. This is not a fresh registration, it is only meant for persons who have not registered before and those who have attained the age of 18.
“These are the ones that are supposed to engage in this continuous voter registration excercise. Persons who seek to do transfer, whose PVCs have damaged are not obligated to register again.”
2 INEC staff in trouble as commission takes strong decision over extortion during PVC registration exercise
The INEC had queried two of its staff for demanding and collecting bribes from Permanent Voters' Card registrants.
INEC's administrative secretary made the announcement in a press statement dated Thursday, June 17.
According to the commission, the two staff have been withdrawn from the field and their replacements deployed to the Oju local government area of Benue state.
2023 election: NAHCON commissioner calls for extension of CVR registration
Ahead of the 2023 presidential polls, a commissioner of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) had asked INEC to extend its continuous voter registration.
Commissioner of NAHCON in the south-south region, Sadiq Musa urged the electoral body to make the process seamless for Nigerians.
Musa also urged Muslims in the south-south region to participate in the electoral process of the forthcoming general election.
Source: Legit.ng
