Double registration: INEC delists 1.1m newly registered voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission has disclosed that it found 1,126,359 records out of the 2, 523,458 fresh registrants that registered between June 28, 2021, and January 14, 2022, 1,126,359 to be invalid and consequently delisted them.

The commission said that it also detected several double, multiple, and ineligible registrants and has consequently invalidated them, adding that these include entries that fail to meet the commission’s business rules.

Disclosing this in Abuja yesterday in a statement made available to the press, the national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, noted that a thorough process was being undertaken to clean up the registration data.He also said that Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for all valid registrants will be available for collection by the end of October/early November as promised.

The INEC Commissioner noted that cleaning up of the register of voters using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is ongoing since the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on 31st July 2022.

The statement reads in part: “The ABIS for the period – 15th January to 31st July 2022 is almost completed. Several double, multiple, and ineligible registrants have also been detected and invalidated. These include entries that fail to meet the Commission’s business rules.

“The commission takes this responsibility seriously because a credible register is at the heart of electoral integrity.

“As soon as the process is concluded, the commission will provide the public with full information as usual.”

Okoye added that valid registrants will be included in the existing national register of voters before publishing same nationwide for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens as required by section 19 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022.