As the Independent National Electoral Commission brings the Continuous Voter’s Registration, CVR, exercise to a close on Sunday, July 31, 2022, the Civil Liberties Organization has called on the electoral umpire to extend the date to accommodate many eligible voters who are still queuing at various designated centres to register.
While noting the efforts of INEC towards the on-going Continuous Voter’s Registration (CVR) of eligible Nigerians, the human rights group however called on the commission to further extend the exercise “in view of the slow pace of the exercise which has brought untold hardship on the citizens.”
According to the organisation’s spokesperson, Sunny Dada, CLOs visit to INEC offices and other CVR points within Port Harcourt and Obio Akpor Local Government Areas, revealed that while citizens came out en mass for registration, the machines were either inadequate or not in good working condition in many areas. There are also instances of reports of extortion of citizens by INEC officials before they are registered.
“We find this development worrisome even as we remind INEC that the upsurge in citizens’ request to be registered is a result of huge investments made by civil society organizations in voter education and civic mobilization. Hence it is incumbent upon the commission to ensure that all eligible citizens willing to register are registered irrespective of the July 31, 2022, deadline. As it stands today, there are still millions of Nigerians who are surging the sparsely located registration points across the state struggling to get registered, Dada said, adding;
“In view of this, the CLO calls on INEC to extend the CVR exercise in order to ensure that all eligible citizens wishing to register are appropriately enrolled. We also call on INEC to create more registration points in communities, markets, churches, and hospitals in order to address the proximity gap that currently mar the exercise. INEC should also flood the current registration points with more machines and ad-hoc staff to ease the needless pain the exercise has foisted on citizens.
“We hereby use this medium to encourage all eligible citizens not to be deterred by the difficulties faced in the process, but view their plight as important contributions to nation building. CLO will continue to monitor the exercise and ensure that appropriate actions that will aid and guarantee the rights of citizens in the electoral process are in place.”
