Nigeria’s electoral umpire, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed August 30 for the commencement of the continuous voters’ registration, ahead of the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State, Njenje Media News reports.
The electoral body disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday by its Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, adding that the exercise will end on September 5.
“In order to ensure that fresh voters and those who wish to transfer their registration to Anambra State or from one part of the State to another are given the opportunity to do so and to complete the process ahead of the election, the Commission has approved the devolution of the CVR to the 326 wards in the state,” the statement partly read.
“This is in addition to the existing 21 Local Government Area offices and the State Head office where physical registration is currently taking place. This brings the total number of registration centers in the state to 348.”
On its preparedness for the election, Okoye said a detailed timetable and schedule of activities had been released, with eight out of the 14 activities fully implemented.
One of such activities includes the conduct of party primaries, the nomination of candidates and commencement of campaign by political parties.
While citing Section 9(5) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), the electoral body’s commissioner stated that voter registration shall stop not later than 60 days before an election.
“This means that the exercise in Anambra State will be suspended by 6th September 2021. This will enable the Commission to clean up the data, compile the register, make copies available to political parties, print the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) for collection by registered voters and prepare two copies of the register for each of the 5,720 polling units ahead of the election.
“Consequently, in addition to our Local Government and State offices, those who wish to register in-person or physically can now do so at the Registration Area (Ward) level throughout the State from 30th August to 5th September 2021.
“Those who have done the online pre-registration must also complete the physical registration within those dates if they wish to vote in the forthcoming Governorship election. The Commission will suspend the physical registration of voters in Anambra State from 6th September 2021 until after the Governorship election,” Okoye stated further.
He further stated that it had identified 580 pre-registrants who booked for an appointment to complete their registration after September 5.
While each one of them has been contacted by e-mail with rescheduled dates earmarked for the devolved exercise, Okoye explained that the commission had given them the option to choose another date within that period if the date we proposed is not convenient for them.
He also reiterated INEC’s determination give Nigerians a pleasant experience during the CVR exercise, noting that 652 trained staff based on two personnel would be deployed in each of the 326 wards.
In addition, Okoye stated that there will be enough voter registration machines and adequate technical support for the duration of the exercise which will hold between 9 am and 3 pm daily, including the weekend.
“Our State office in Anambra has commenced stakeholder engagements and massive publicity for the exercise. We urge all Nigerians to cooperate with the Commission for the success of the exercise,” he added.
