By Haruna Salami
As the deadline for INEC continuous registration draws near, Coalition of Civil Society for Good Governance (CCSGG), an umbrella body for about twenty advocacy groups on Friday peacefully protested to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC headquarters asking for extension of Continuous Voters Registration, CVR.
Leading the CSOs to INEC headquarters in Abuja Friday, the convener, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku said “the appeal was anchored on information reaching them from several parts of the country across the six geo-political zones that large segments of the population have not been able to register, even after queuing up at the various registration centres without any hope of being registered due to scarcity of personnel and materials”.
The group said, INEC should leverage on citizens’ willingness to register ahead of 2023 general election, stating that those who intends to register have been coming out in large numbers, but there are inadequate manpower and equipment to attend to them, a development they said led to long queues.
Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku in a letter to the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, which was received on his behalf at the INEC headquarters by the Assistant Director of Security, Mrs. Endurance Babangida, insisted that large number of people spreading across the six geopolitical zones of the country were yet to register.
According to him, the quest to register has turned so bad that “bribe for registration”, was being witnessed in certain areas of the country.
Prof. Ndubuaku acknowledge that deadline for registration had been previously extended many times, but appealed that the umpire should consider extension so as not to disenfranchise anyone.
“If this deadline is not extended, millions of Nigerians will be disenfranchised and since this problem may enhance the narrative of marginalisation, which cannot augur well for democracy in Nigeria.
They urged INEC to address lapses of human resources and deploy more technology, if the exercise is extended from Sunday 31 July for at least one month.
Speaking in a similar vein, one of the co-conveners, Mr. Rowland Dandy reminded the electoral umpire of the provisions in the amended electoral Act which allows extension of voters registration exercise.
He said, the long queue was largely as a result of unavailability of INEC staff and other logistic challenges, noting that the umpire can request for funding to enable them carry out the exercise successfully.
In her remarks on behalf of the INEC Chairman, Mrs. Endurance Babangida, told the organisers that their letter will be delivered to the chairman, assuring that “the request would be looked into”.
