By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has admonished
political parties in Nigeria that wish to field candidates for elective offices in the 2023 General Elections to adhere strictly to the provisions in the Electoral Act, the Commission’s timetable and observe the schedule of activities for the election.
This is even as Yakubu has disclosed that PVCs will be available for collection from January 6, 2022 until February 4 2022 by residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ahead of the the FCT Council Election early next year.
The INEC Chairman stated these in his remarks at a meeting with 36 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) including FCT held Tuesday at the Commission’s Conference Room in Abuja to review and take stock of INEC activities as the year 2021 draws to a close.
According to him: “it is a great pleasure to welcome all our Resident Electoral Commissioners to this meeting which is going to be the last for the year 2021 and the first since the Anambra Governorship election held last month. We will therefore review the Anambra Governorship election, discuss the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), preparations for forthcoming elections and other related matters”.
Yakubu who stressed that the need to review and take stock of the Commission’s activities in the outgoing year
cannot be overlooked, said the Commission appreciated the efforts of security agencies especially in the Anambra Governorship election for helping the Commission to secure the environment to enable the Commission conduct the election, pointing out that the outcome has” truly reflected the wishes of the people.”
Speaking further the INEC Chairman declared that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) designed by its in-house engineers has been reviewed for maximum performance and will be deployed in coming elections.
Said he: “As you are aware, the Commission piloted two important technological innovations in the Anambra State Governorship election. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was deployed for the first time in a major election after the successful pilot in the Isoko South I State Constituency in Delta State in September this year”.
“The BVAS has replaced the Smart Card Reader for verification and authentication as part of our improved voter accreditation process. The new technology was designed in-house by INEC engineers. Like every new technology, glitches were observed and important lessons learnt. We wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission has reviewed the performance of the BVAS in Anambra State and there will be a tremendous improvement leading to optimal performance in future elections”.
“The BVAS has come to stay. So too is the uploading of Polling Unit results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time on Election Day. We are convinced that the introduction of technology in voter accreditation and result management is better than the best entirely manual process. It also increases public confidence in the process. We will continue to deepen the use of technology in our elections”.
“Like every new technology, glitches were observed and important lessons learnt. We wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission has reviewed the performance of the BVAS in Anambra State and there will be a tremendous improvement leading to optimal performance in future elections”.
Yakubu however warned political parties that they must adhere strictly to the Electoral Act in electing party candidates for the upcoming elections or risk not participating in the elections.
Said he: “The Commission wishes to remind political parties that in choosing their candidates for these elections, they must abide by the provisions of the law, INEC’s regulations and guidelines as well as their Constitutions and guidelines. INEC will monitor the primaries as required by law”.
Meanwhile, INEC Chairman said the Commission has now completed the Second Quarter of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise which commenced online in June and physically at designated centres in July, stating that, “We have also been giving Nigerians weekly updates for the last six months. The Third Quarter of the exercise will commence in January next year”.
On when will Nigerians start to get their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) Yakubu said: “The Commission is working on these concerns and issues and will issue a comprehensive schedule for both activities early in the new year”.
Said he: “in view of the forthcoming Area Council Elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) scheduled for 12th February 2022 involving 68 constituencies to elect 6 Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councillors, the CVR exercise was suspended nine days ago i.e. 60 days to the election as required by law”.
“A total of 42,986 Nigerians completed their registration in the FCT. The Commission has diligently cleaned up the data using our new Automatic Biometric Identification System (ABIS) to weed out multiple registrations. As a testimony to the efficacy of our ABIS process, 14,665 (34.1%) multiple registrations were detected and rejected”.
“Consequently, the number of new valid registrants in the FCT is 28,321. Added to this figure are requests for transfer of registrations to FCT, replacement of lost or damaged PVCs and update of voter records, making an overall total of 39,208 new PVCs to be printed. I am glad to report that all the PVCs will be available for collection from 6th January 2022 until 4th February 2022”.
