The deadline for the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) activity is still July 31, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who also indicated that double registration will be deemed illegal.
At a news conference on the commission’s readiness for the 2023 general elections, on CVR, Permanent Voter Cards (PVCS) validity and collecting in Abuja, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC FCT, said this.
He said that the commission increased the closing hours to 5pm daily, including Saturdays and Sundays, and that all CVR activities—aside from the collection of PVCs that have already been printed—would be discontinued on Sunday, July 31.
He claimed that this was done to handle the surge during the program’s final hour.
He said, “The number of people who registered and whose registration has been invalidated is becoming alarming; a lot of people have registered in one or two registration centres.
“They will get nothing by doing so whatever their intentions were, because at the end of the day, they will be declared as people without PVC at all.
“Any double or triple registration is null and void, we will go through our machines after these exercise and clean our register so that we can come up with the list of people who genuinely are going to in 2023.
“So let me appeal to people that they should always tell our staff at registration centres exactly what they want to do, whether they have never registered before, they have lost their cards ,or it is defaced, or they want transfer from one place to another.”
He urged Nigerians to visit registration centres close to their locations, adding that there was no need for people in the suburbs to come all the way to INEC’s office in Area 10.
He said that the commission on Monday July 25, began special registration for persons with Disabilities at the designated CVR centres to ensure inclusivity and explain that both PWDs and other Nigerians could use the under listed centres.
“The CVR centres remain: City Centre -Diplomatic Park, Area 1, Gwarinpa GSS Life Camp, Wuse GSS Zone 3, Kabusa Primary School and Lugbe Primary School.
“Others are Giwa – Gwagwa Primary School, GUI -Gosa Primary School, Karshi- Karshi Development Centre, Orozo – Orozo Primary School.
“The rest are: Nyanya – G.S.S Nyanya, Kubwa-L.E.A Primary School Kubwa, Dutse-Aljaji – L.E.A Primary School Dutse, L.E.A Primary School, Dawaki L.E.A and Primary School, Mpape,” he said.
In order to make PVC collecting for residents easier after the conclusion of the CVR exercise, Bello stated that the commission has reached an arrangement with a Civil Society Organization (CSO), using SMS to reach them at their closest places.
The CVR participants would have their PVCs by October, he noted.
According to the REC, the commission looked into the citizens’ allegations that its employees were charging them money before registering them.
He asserted that the commission discovered the accusation was untrue since the parties involved were not commission employees but rather individuals who purported to be volunteers and the problem had been resolved.
He claimed that INEC was striving to address any issues that would affect the elections in 2023.
According to Bello, the country’s general elections in 2023 will be far better than those held in the past.
