By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
At the official presentation of copies of the New National Voters Register to the leadership of the 18 registered political parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has vowed that the much-awaited 2023 general election will hold as planned.
The INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu who spoke at the official presentation of the New Voters Register to the 18 political parties in Nigeria for 2023 general elections held at the INEC Conference Room, Abuja on Wednesday used the occasion to restate the Commission’s stand on the 2023 elections.
He insists that INEC is not contemplating any adjustment to the election timetable, let alone the postponement of the general election, saying there is nothing to suggesting that elections will not go on.
A visibly serious Yakubu affirmed that, the 2023 general election will hold as scheduled, maintaining that any report to the contrary is fake, and not the official position of the Commission.
Speaking on the New Voters Register unveiled by the Commission which was the reason the leadership of the 18 registered political parties in Nigeria were invited to INEC headquarters, he said INEC has executed over 70% of the items on the table for the general election with the release of the New Voters Register.
Said he: “The Register of Voters for the 2023 General Election stands at 93,469,008. Of this cumulative figure, 49,054,162 (52.5%) are Male while 44,414,846 (47.5%) are Female. The distribution by age group shows that 37,060,399 (39.65%) are Youth between the ages of 18 and 34; 33,413,591 (35.75%) are Middle-Aged persons between the ages of 35 and 49; 17,700,270 (18.94%) are elderly voters between the ages of 50 and 69 while 5,294,748 (5.66%) are senior citizens aged 70 and above.
“In terms of occupational distribution, students constitute the largest category with 26,027,481 (27.8%) of all voters, followed by 14,742,554 (15.8%) Farmers/Fishermen and 13,006,939 (13.9%) housewives. The data on disability was not collected for previous registration. However, the cumulative figure of 85,362 persons from the recent CVR indicates that there are 21,150 (24.5%) persons with Albinism; 13,387 (15.7%) with physical impediment and 8,103 (9.5%) are blind” he said.
He was of the opinion that already, substantial quantities of sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been deployed to various locations across the country.
The INEC Chairman explained that already, some of the materials for 17 States in three geo-political zones have been delivered.
“As a further affirmation of the Commission’s readiness to conduct the 2023 General Election as scheduled, the final register of voters has been compiled.
“Furthermore, 13,868,441 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been printed, delivered to States and are being collected by citizens as new voters or by existing voters who applied for transfer or replacement of cards as provided by law.
“The last batch of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been received while the ongoing configuration of the critical technology in readiness for elections would soon be completed.
“In the last two days, we commenced the airlifting of other sensitive materials to States across the country. With the presentation of the register of voters to political parties at this meeting, the Commission has now successfully implemented 11 out of the 14 activities on schedule. The implementation of other activities has proceeded in earnest.
“Similarly, following the display of the voters’ register nationwide and the conclusion of claims and objections by citizens, a new national register of voters has been compiled.
“In short, at no time in the recent history of the Commission has so much of the forward planning and implementation been accomplished 44 days ahead of a General Election.
“You may recall that on 26th February 2022, the Commission released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.
“Since then, the Commission has been relentlessly implementing the 14 step by step activities listed in the Timetable.
“Some of the major activities include the conduct of primaries by political parties, nomination of candidates, the publication of list of candidates and commencement of campaign by political parties.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday 25th February 2023 while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold two weeks later on Saturday 11th March 2023.
“The repeated assurance by the security agencies for the adequate protection of our personnel, materials and processes also reinforces our determination to proceed. You would recall that for the 2019 General Election, Nigeria had a voter population of 84,004,084.
“After the cleaning up of the data from the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise (June 2021 – July 2022), 9,518,188 new voters were added to the previous register resulting in the preliminary register of 93,522,272 which was presented to Nigerians for claims and objections as required by law.
“At the end of the period for claims and objections by citizens, the Commission received 53,264 objections from Nigerians to the prevalence of ineligible persons on the register by virtue of age, citizenship or death. These names have been verified and removed from the register.
“The soft copy of the complete register will be presented to each political party shortly. It is organized by State, Local Government, Ward and Polling Unit. It is also the same register that will be used on Election Day. Hard copies of the breakdown of the register by States of the Federation and analysis by gender, age group, occupation and disability are enclosed in your folders for this meeting.
“The soft copy of the breakdown and analysis will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly. I would like to reiterate our commitment to transparent, credible and inclusive 2023 General Election.
“We will continue to take every step to protect the sanctity of the votes cast by citizens and to deal with infractions, including the arrest and prosecution of persons that attempt to perpetuate illegality at Polling Units on Election Day, be they underaged voters or vote buyers.
“Once again, the Commission appreciates the patience of Nigerians who have been queuing up at the designated centres to collect the PVCs. To make it easier, we devolved the collection to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards nationwide.
“We have also uploaded the comprehensive list of the Ward collection centres nationwide to our website. The locations can also be identified by sending a short text message to any of the two dedicated telephone lines. The details are also available on the Commission’s website.
“On this note, the Commission would like to appreciate the political parties, the leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), civil society organsations, development partners, traditional, religious and community leaders for their partnership and support in encouraging Nigerians to register and to collect their PVCs.
“The best way to reciprocate this support and the dogged determination of Nigerians to vote is to ensure a transparent election next month” He stressed.
Responding, the Secretary of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Alhaji Yusuf Dantali who represented IPAC Chairman employed all the political parties to know that power belongs to God, calling on them to try their best to campaign vigorously to win but not to undermine the electoral processes.
He commended INEC for ensuring power is transmissible to the common man in the country, resolved to ensure that IPAC cooperate with the commission in whatever way and promised to be anti democratic in the system.
