INEC replies CUPP, says cleanup of voters register still in progress

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) responding to the issues raised by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), relating to mismatch and fake identities in the new voters register, revealed that the cleanup of the voters register has not been concluded, saying the process is still ongoing. INEC National Commissioner and Head of Voters Education, Festus Okoye, emphasized that the issues raised by the CUPP relating to mismatch, identities of non- Nigerians or non-residents, would be eliminated when the cleaup exercise is concluded, saying that the commission will conclude the cleaning exercise before the final voters’ register will be displayed to the public.

INEC had announced the deleting of over one million voters from the new register, citing double registration and others, an indication that INEC is already handling the issues detected by the CUPP.

Okoye had in response to the issues, declared: “It is important to reiterate that no new registrant has yet been added to the Register of Voters for the 2023 general elections or will be included until these supplemental activities have been completed in line with the law.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we restate the main components of these activities. First, the Commission is conducting a comprehensive Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) cleanup of the registration data by scrutinising every record’, Okoye added.

“Based on the Electoral Act 2022, any record that does not meet all the criteria for inclusion as stipulated in Section 10, including the appearance in person by the registrant at the registration venue with proof of identity, age and nationality and our business rules requirements of adequate number of fingerprints and clear pictures will be invalidated.

“Further, in line with Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, after the ABIS and clean up, the Commission shall appoint a period of seven days during which the register will be published for scrutiny by the public for objections and complaints.”