By Praise Chinecherem
The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for Anambra Central Senatorial District in the 2023 general elections, Senator Victor Umeh has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend voter’s registration for three more months.
Umeh who made the call while speaking to journalists at the weekend in Agulu, Anaocha Local Government Area of the state said the extension was necessary to give room for those that would attain the age of 18 years before next year’s elections to get registered and participate in the polls.
He however commended INEC for a huge success recorded during the exercises.
“The exention will enable Nigerians who would attain 18 years from July 31st 2022 to get their voters cards and exercise their franchise during the elections.
“I am not opposing the decision of the electoral body but I am only appealing, because the election is February-March, 2023, that is 7-8 months. So there is still time for the process,” he added.
The INEC National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education and Publicity, Festus Okoye, had insisted that the commission would close the CVR exercise on July 31st as scheduled.
Okoye, who disclosed this while interacting with journalists in Awka, noted that the CVR would be brought to an in order to enable them carry on with their other constitutional responsibilities.
Okoye added that the commission would at the end of the exercise scrutinise the voters registers to clean up possible incidents of multiple registrations, print the various permanent voters cards (PVC), display voters’ registers across the 774 local government areas and polling units, among other activities.
He said the commission would make available the PVCs for those who registered or carried out voter’s transfers between January to June 2022 on October 2022, while those who enrolled between July 1st to July 31st 2022 would receive theirs by November 2022, at various local government offices of INEC.
He commended stakeholders in Anambra State for supporting the commission throughout the period of the exercise, because according to him, with their efforts, INEC staff were able to device and execute the projects successfully among the populace by locating places like markets, churches, events and communities with larger populations.
While responding to questions regarding their level of preparations for the 2023 general elections, Okoye said they were determined to conduct free, fair and credible polls, adding that the commission would train presiding officers and security officers on how to curb electoral offences such as impersonation, vote trading and buying.
