By Kingsley Chukwuka
Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chief (Dr) Rose Oriaran-Anthony has called on Nigerians to take advantage of the on-going Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise to register and get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) ahead of the 2023 general election, saying that the exercise will end in June 2023.
Oriaran-Anthony said after the June deadline, unregistered electorates will not be allowed to vote.
“It is the right of every Nigerian citizen from age 18 years and above to register and those who do not register till the end of June this year (2022), will not take part in the 2023 general election”, she said.
The Commission’s Secretary made the call at the weekend, as a guest speaker, at a public hearing, organised by the Association of Edo State Indigenes Abuja (AESIA), with the theme: “Continuous Voters Registration: Creating Public Awareness and Sensitization, Impact and Significance on Polity, Governance and Dividend of Democracy” held at the Labour House Abuja.
“There is no democracy without voters”, she stressed.
According to her: “That is why of all various definitions of democracy, the most universally accepted is the one that refers to it as “the government of the people by the people and for the people”. By this definition, it means it is the people that give impetus to democracy and that without people’s participation, such a system cannot be referring to as democracy”, she added.
She continued: “In such a system, it’s the people that determines through their votes who occupies public office. However, you can’t exercise this civic responsibility without first of all registering to vote, get your Voters Card and express your voice at the polls. It is a civic responsibility that should not be toyed with, as it is a responsibility that places our welfare and the future of our children and children yet unborn in our hands via PVC.
Also, the INEC Secretary, who cautioned against engaging in multiple registration, said that apart from the fact that it is a criminal offence, it invalidates the two registrations and renders one ineligible to participate in an election process.
In her words: “Multiple registration automatically disqualifies you from voting. Almost half of the registrations the commission have had recently are illegal as a result of multiple registration”.
While speaking against thuggery during election, the Commission’s Secretary said it’s unfortunate that youths of Nigeria have been associated with electoral violence for too long, adding that thuggery has terminated the lives of people that would have been leaders today.
Warning against thuggery she said, “what INEC wants is your ballot not your bullets”.
Also lamenting against voters apathy in Nigeria, She recalled that for the first time in history since the return to civil rule in 1999, Nigeria has recorded the lowest rate of voter turnout of 34.75 percent as at the last presidential election in 2019.
“That figure of voters turnout in 2019 is said to be the lowest of all recent elections held in African continent, according to the data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA)”.
She reiterated that the dream of INEC is to conduct an election that is inclusive and of international standard that will meet the overall aspirations of Nigerians at all level, calling on Civil Society Organisations, Socio-cultural and religious bodies to do more in taking the message of sustainable democracy to the grassroots and let the People know the benefits of participation in the electoral process
Oriaran-Anthony who is also an Edo indigene, charged the Association of Edo State Indigenes Abuja (AESIA), to sensitize the people of Edo State to come out and register in the on-going Continuous Voters Registration (CVR), as the state has lowest registered voters in the South-South with 67,680, according to the latest weekly update released by the Commission on February 14, 2022.
Other states in the region recorded the following: Delta – 176, 673; Bayelsa – 168,191; Rivers – 155,256; Akwa Ibom – 106, 788 and Cross Rivers – 80, 199, She said.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the AESIA President, Mr. Odiase Osagie charged the Association to take advantage of the lecture and do the needful.