INEC Speaks On Foreigners, Underage Persons Voting In 2023 Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it has already begun cleaning up the voters’ register ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Naija News reports that INEC National Commissioner for Voter Education and Publicity, Festus Okoye, said this on Friday during a programme on Channels Television.

Okoye stated that the commission is working hard to ensure that Nigerians are proud of the voters’ register for the forthcoming general elections and also with a robust register.

He added that INEC will ensure that foreigners and underage persons are not part of the register of voters, adding that the 2023 elections will be different as a result of the new Electoral Act.

He said: “On the issue of underage voters, this commission published the entire voters’ register in Nigeria in the various local government areas and in all the registration areas, and people have made their objections. People have made their complaints and people have made their claims.

“The commission is presently cleaning up the voters’ register. The clean-up is an ongoing exercise and we are going to try our best to make sure that we go into the 2023 general election with a voters’ register that Nigerians can be proud of, and also with a voters’ register that is robust.

“In terms of non-Nigerians voting, only validly registered voters will be in a position to vote during the 2023 general election, and the immigration service, anytime they make any arrest, anytime they see any individual who claims to be a Nigerian who has a voter’s card, they make those arrests, make those voter cards available to the commission, and we cancel those registrations. So, Nigerians should be on the lookout.”

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Participation

Okoye also said the electoral body has made provisions for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to participate in the forthcoming elections.

He said: “We have profiled all the persons in IDP camps. We know the number of persons in IDP camps, and we know the number of IDP camps in various states.

“So, we are going to configure all the IDP camps into registration areas and all persons who are in IDP camps who want to vote will have an opportunity to vote.”

PVC Distribution Exercise

The INEC spokesman also described the turnout of the ongoing Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) distribution exercise as encouraging, adding that national commissioners are also supervising the collection of PVCs in different states.

He said: “The rate of PVC collection varies from one state to the other and from one place to the other. Some of the resident electoral commissioners are sending daily reports to the commission; some of them are sending reports every two days; some are sending every week. So, we are still collating these reports.

“The national commissioners are also supervising the collection of PVCs in the states that they supervise. But as of today, we are really encouraged by the turnout of people coming to collect.

“Community leaders are mobilising; market women are mobilising; religious leaders and traditional leaders are also mobilising, and people are coming out to collect their PVCs.”