The INEC spokesman said that the purpose of the display is to enable Nigerians to scrutinise the preliminary register and make claims.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assaured it will investigate cases of infraction in the register of voters across the country.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said in a statement on Thursday that the display of voters register shows transparency by the electoral body.
On November 12, the commission published a preliminary national register of voters in its 8,809 Registration Areas (Wards) and 774 Local Government Area offices nationwide.
The register was also published on the commission’s website for the first time in the nation’s electoral history.
The INEC spokesman said that the purpose of the display is to enable Nigerians to scrutinise the preliminary register and make claims about misspellings of names, personal details or missing names on the register so that the errors could be corrected.
“In addition, citizens can raise objections about the presence of ineligible persons, for example, those below the age of 18 years, dead persons, foreigners, or those making false claims so that they can be deleted from the register in line with the commission’s established rules,” he said.
Okoye said that as earlier announced, INEC will display physical copies of the register for claims and objections at two levels.
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“First, at the Registration Area level from Nov. 12 to Nov. 18, which comes to an end tomorrow, and thereafter, at the Local Government level from Nov. 19 to Nov. 25,” Okoye said.
He noted that the display would be followed by hearing of claims and objections by citizens for disposal action.
“In addition to the physical display at the Registration Areas and Local Governments, the register is also displayed on the Commission’s website so that citizens can simultaneously make both claims and objections online throughout the duration of the exercise.
“This is the first time that the Commission would be doing so and further underscores our commitment to applying technology to improve the electoral process,” said Okoye.
The INEC spokesman added that “the Commission cannot rule out infractions by its registration officials in allowing these ineligible persons into the register in the first place.
“Therefore, each confirmed case of infraction will be thoroughly investigated and culpable officials will be disciplined.”