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Intersociety writes INEC to brief Nigerians on preparedness for credible elections

By Leo Sobechi, Deputy Politics Editor, Abuja
07 February 2023   |   3:55 am
International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enumerate measures in place for credible and transparent elections.

INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES<br />

International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enumerate measures in place for credible and transparent elections.

It noted that the gateway to popular, credible and inclusive polls is “massive enfranchisement of citizens of voting age.”

The group, therefore, advised the electoral umpire to ensure enfranchisement of all prospective voters “without discrimination as to ethnicity, religion, place of birth, gender and class of the citizens of voting age.”

In a petition to INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, which was routed through the commission’s National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, Intersociety demanded the state by state breakdown of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) distributed across the federation from December 12, 2022 to February 5, 2023.

In the request dated February 6, the rights group further inquired: “How many of the 20 million uncollected PVCs since 2019 (as disclosed on May 31 2022 by Mohammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner for FCT, Nasarawa, Plateau and Kaduna) and 9.5 million uncollected PVCs since 2022 were distributed across the country as at February 5, 2023?

“How many of the newly printed four million PVCs for registered citizens, who newly transferred their PVCs, were distributed across the country on state by state basis as at February 5, 2023?

“What is the total remaining number of the uncollected PVCs since 2019 and those of 2023 in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory as at February5, 2023?

“What is the ethno-religious and gender percentage of the distributed PVCs and their remainder as at February 2023?

“How many PVCs belonging to the registered children of underage and illegal migrants were distributed by INEC across the 36 states and the FCT, especially in Kano, Kastina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Bauchi, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa and Niger states as at February 5, 2023?”

Intersociety recalled how INEC had on January 6, this year, through Okoye, during a television programme, admitted that the Commission was cleaning up underage voters from its record.

Consequently, the organisation enjoined Yakubu to explain the fate or status of the estimated eight million underage children and two million illegal migrants currently stocked and legitimised by the electoral umpire in the voter register as at February 5, 2023.

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