Blame seven million applicants for incomplete voter registrations – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has no blame in the failure of some seven Nigerians to complete their online voter pre-registration.

It insisted that it never denied anyone the chance of completing the exercise to collect the voter card required to allow qualified Nigerians to vote in the 2023 general elections.

INEC’s reaction came after some 24 Nigerians sued the electoral body on behalf of the affected seven million people for allegedly denying them the opportunity to complete the registration.

In August, INEC had said over seven million persons failed to complete the registration process at physical centres, adding that at the close of continuous voter registration (CVR) on July 31, a total of 12,298,944 people were fully registered.

The commission said of this figure, 8,854,566 were individuals who did their registration at physical centres, while 3,444,378 started their registration online and completed the process at a physical centre.

In a statement on Monday, INEC National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, explained why the seven million persons were not captured in the record of completed voter registrations.

The statement read, “To set the record straight, Nigerians may recall that on 28th June 2021, the Commission introduced the online pre-registration of voters. By doing so, citizens were given the opportunity to commence the registration online and then book for an appointment at their convenience to complete the physical Biometric Capture at designated centres.

“It was a novel idea leveraging on technology to ease the registration process. This was in addition to the walk-in option at physical centres, where Nigerians can commence and complete their registration simultaneously without going through the online pre-registration procedure.

“In the interest of transparency, the Commission provided weekly statistical updates on the exercise.

“For the online pre-registration, a total 10,487,972 commenced the process. However, by the deadline of the exercise, 3,444,378 Nigerians completed their pre-registration physically at the designated centres in line with the Commission’s policy. Some 7,043,594 applicants did not complete the registration.

“Again, the Commission made the information public. This is what some people are now using to say that they were denied the opportunity when in reality they failed to either complete the online enrolment or appear physically at the designated centres to complete the process.

“A breakdown of the 7,043,594 incomplete online pre-registrations is as follows: 4,161,775 citizens attempted but either did not complete online pre-registration or abandoned it and went for the physical registration instead; 2,881,819 registrants completed the online pre-registration but did not show up to complete the physical Biometric Capture at designated centres before the deadline.

“Therefore, it is clear that no Nigerians were deliberately denied the opportunity to complete their online pre-registration.

“We appeal citizens to always adhere to timelines as against the endless agitation for eleventh hour extension of set deadlines.”