month's general elections, the Independent National
Electoral Commission has said.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, at a meeting
with the national leadership of all the 23 registered
political parties in Abuja on Tuesday evening, added
that over four million people were involved in
multiple registrations.
He said, "In line with the provisions of the law, the
commission has just announced the publication of the
register of voters that will be used for the February
2015 general elections. The total number of voters
registered for the elections is 68,833,476."
Jega explained that the names of those involved in
double registration had been deleted from the
computer.
He said that 38,774,391 Nigerians had so far collected
their Permanent Voter Cards out of the 54,341,610
that were ready as of Monday last week.
Jega added that the commission had ordered for more
PVCs and that some were already awaiting collection.
The INEC boss said, "The commission has taken
delivery of additional PVCs from its contractor and we
are positive that we will have all outstanding cards
with us by January 28, 2015.
"For the avoidance of doubt, possession of PVCs is a
strict condition for anyone intending to vote in the
2015 elections."
Asked about the resolution passed by the House of
Representatives shortly before he met with the leaders
of the parties asking INEC to also use Temporary Voter
Cards , he said he was not aware of the resolution.
He nevertheless said that the commission was working
with the intent of using only PVCs for the elections.
Jega regretted that many Nigerians had failed to
collect their PVCs, adding that in order to address this,
the commission had directed all its resident electoral
commissioners to further decentralise the distribution
of the cards to the ward level.
The distribution, according to him , would begin at 8.
30am and end at 5. 30pm every day except Sunday.
He added, , "INEC will use card readers for the
elections. The commission has taken delivery of more
than 130,000 units of the card readers and we are on
schedule to receive the remaining quantity before the
end of January."
Jega announced that the deployment of the cards to
states had started, adding that there were about
150,000 polling points in the country.
He said that elections would hold in all the parts of the
country, including the troubled North-East, but added
that this might be difficult in some local governments
being fully occupied by Boko Haram.
The electoral umpire added, "INEC has always said it
is preparing to conduct elections in all the 36 states of
the federation, including the three North- East states
experiencing the challenge of insurgency.
"The commission, however, will work closely with
security agencies who have the constitutional
responsibility for security ."
On whether Internally Displaced Persons would vote,
he said that the commission was finalising
arrangements to enable them to vote.
He said on Tuesday, the commission would meet with
stakeholders to present its plans and get their input.
Jega also said that 14 political parties submitted
candidates for the presidential election. But he did not
give the names of the parties and the candidates.
For the senatorial election, where there are 109 seats.
he said that there are 739 candidates. About 1,780
candidates, according to him, are vying for the 360
seats in the House of Representatives.
This makes the total number of candidates vying for
the 479 seats in the National Assembly 2,519.
Jega said that INEC would publish the lists of the
candidates for the state elections (governors and the
State Houses of Assembly) on January 27.
Earlier, the Director, ICT Department in the
commission, Mr. Chidi Nwafor, made a presentation
to the party leaders on how the commission carried
out the registration exercise.
He said that some voters used different names to
register
In his submission, the Chairman of Inter-Party
Advisory Council, Mr. Tanko Yunisa, commended
INEC for its strict compliance with the law.
He asked that copies of the voter register be presented
to parties to enable them to make their observations
where necessary.
Reps ask INEC to allow TVCs for polls
The House of Representatives had earlier on Tuesday
asked INEC to allow Nigerians with TVCs to vote during
the elections.
It said in a resolution it passed in Abuja that it was
unlikely that INEC would give every eligible voter the
Permanent Voter Card before the elections.
Members of the House argued that allowing the use
of the TVCs along with the PVCs was the only way to
avoid denying many Nigerians their right to vote.
The call was one of the key resolutions the lawmakers
passed as they reconvened on Tuesday from their
Christmas and New Year holidays.
In another resolution, the House ordered an
investigation into the recent allegation by the
Department of State Service that the All Progressives
Congress planned to hack the database of INEC.
The motions on the two issues were moved by the
House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, and
the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor.
Defending the motion on TVCs, Gbajabiamila, an APC
lawmaker, noted that if INEC insisted on using the
PVCs, many eligible voters would be disenfranchised.
Members immediately endorsed the motion without
allowing further debate and asked INEC to make
provisions for the use of TVCs in its guidelines for the
elections.
Part of Gbajabiamila's motion reads, "INEC has been
and is still issuing permanent voter cards to eligible
voters in replacement of the temporary voter cards
issued to Nigerians about four years ago.
"Concerned that the general elections being just four
weeks or 31 days from now, it is very unlikely that the
commission will be able to distribute the PVCs to all
registered and eligible voters before the elections.
"Disturbed that if the current position of the
commission (that only voters with the PVCs are
qualified to vote) is not addressed, many registered
and eligible voters will be disenfranchised in the 2015
general elections to the detriment of the growth of
democracy in Nigeria.
"The House resolves that the commission should
include in its election guidelines for the 2015 general
elections a provision(s) allowing registered voters with
the temporary voter cards (TVCs) whose names are on
record to vote during the 2015 general elections."
Commenting on the resolution, the Speaker, Aminu
Tambuwal, observed that it was the responsibility of
INEC to give all eligible voters a PVC.
However, he said if the same INEC was unable to do
so, it should not punish those with TVCs by denying
them voting rights.
"If INEC registered someone and it is unable to provide
the PVC, the voter should be allowed to use TVC", the
speaker added.
When asked whether INEC would allow the use of
TVCs for the February elections, the Chief Press
Secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, said
that all PVCs would be made available to registered
voters before the elections.
Idowu, who was silent on whether TVCs would be
used, said, "A motion was moved suggesting that
option only if INEC cannot produce the PVCs of
registered voters before February 14. The commission
is positive that the PVCs will all be produced and
expects voters to come and pick them."
Idowu had told The PUNCH that 38,774,391 people
had as of last Wednesday collected the PVCs.
The zonal analysis of the figure (34,774,391) indicated
that the North-West and the South-West led the other
four zones in the collection of the PVCs.
For example, in the North-West which has seven
states, 12,013,961 PVCs had been collected. The
seven states in the zone are Kebbi, Zamfara, Jigawa,
Sokoto, Kano, Katsina and Kaduna.
There were also 6,270,736 PVCs that had been
collected in the six states of the South-West. The states
are Lagos, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun and Oyo.
South-South is third among the zones with the highest
number of PVCs collected with 5,756,018. The states
in the zone are Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross
River, Edo and Delta.
Trailing the zone is North-Central with 5,520,001
cards collected. States in the zone are Benue, Kwara,
Nasarawa, Kogi, Plateau and Niger.
The House also on Tuesday agreed that the alleged plot
to hack INEC's database was a "serious" matter
considering the fact that the database contained
sensitive information on elections.
Presenting the motion on the issue to the House, Ogor,
a PDP lawmaker, stated, "The DSS allegation relating to
the alleged plan to hack INEC database is a very
serious allegation.
"The allegation, coming at the heels of an election
period, calls for concern that should not be treated
with levity.
"The INEC database may contain highly-sensitive data
and if compromised, can cast heinous aspersions on
the integrity of the forthcoming elections."
The House therefore resolved to set up a committee to
investigate the matter within two weeks.
Meanwhile, Tambuwal has expressed displeasure over
the high turnover of lawmakers, following the
outcome of the primaries of the various political
parties.
Addressing members as they resumed work on
Tuesday, the speaker complained that the "returning
number is far below expectations."
He added that the failure of many members to secure
return ticket for the next legislative tenure
(2015-2019) meant that the House had again lost
capable and experienced hands.
"We have lost a lot of experience and expertise", he
said to a moody chamber.
Although Tambuwal did not give a figure, findings
showed that over 150 lawmakers failed to secure their
ticket during the primaries held in December.
The loss cuts across the two major political parties, the
PDP and the APC.
In 2011, only about 102 members out of the 360,
returned from the 2007-2011 set.
Despite losing their re-election bid, Tambuwal still
urged them to re-dedicate themselves to duty in the
remaining months of their tenure.
The speaker said important bills such as the Petroleum
Industry Bill, should receive urgent attention of the
members.
Source: PUNCHNG
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