Irregularities in INEC's voter register far past figures launched – YIAGA Africa

Itodo disclosed that YIAGA Africa had commenced an audit of the voter register, throughout which it recognized a number of irregularities, together with duplicate entries, deceased individuals, a number of registrations and underage voters.

He maintained that the figures printed by INEC don’t adequately replicate the precise scale of the issues affecting the register.

Speaking on Arise News, Itodo described the voter register as one of the vital necessary paperwork within the electoral course of, stressing that it determines who’s eligible to take part in elections.

He defined that the regulation stipulates particular necessities for voter registration, together with being not less than 18 years outdated and assembly the citizenship and residency circumstances.

He stated, “You must be 18, you must be a Nigerian citizen and resident in Nigeria. And so, if you don’t fulfil those conditions, you are not allowed to be on the register to vote. So the register is the foundation for any election because it determines who gets to vote at the end of the day.

“Because we have began auditing the voters’ register, and Dr. Baysa Uzi is aware of very effectively that YIAGA Africa began auditing the voters’ register way back to 2018, and we began with the Edo and Bayelsa voters’ registers, and we discovered that there are duplications, there are lifeless individuals on the register, which INEC additionally admitted.

“There are also multiple registrants, right? And then there are underage registrants also. And there are certain errors that you find in the register,” he stated.

The YIAGA Africa govt director added that the figures launched by INEC, each not too long ago and previously, don’t present an entire image of the irregularities. However, he acknowledged that this doesn’t robotically invalidate each facet of the voter register.

According to him, the key problem is the absence of a complete nationwide audit that will set up the true extent of the issues.

Itodo argued that INEC ought to have commenced a nationwide voter register revalidation train shortly after the 2023 common elections however failed to take action.

He famous that the present electoral fee additionally thought of conducting the train final 12 months, however the timing was too near the 2027 common elections.

He stated, “The bigger question is: we needed to audit this register on a national scale. The challenge was that when INEC proposed a revalidation, it ought to have started this revalidation right after the 2023 elections. It didn’t conduct the revalidation. Then this new INEC last year wanted to conduct a revalidation.

“It was too near the final election, and so I believe that many of the points that we’re speaking about can solely be handled after the 2027 elections, when a revalidation train is carried out.”

Itodo further stressed that INEC’s removal of 1.5 million names from the voter register should not be accepted without independent verification, particularly amid public concerns about the credibility of the electoral process.

He said stakeholders were justified in demanding an independent audit or review to establish whether the identified irregularities had been properly addressed.

He added, “However, within the present dispensation, even when INEC has eradicated 1.5 million registered voters, on this local weather of mistrust, the general public would desire a scenario the place there’s an unbiased evaluation to essentially verify that a few of these irregularities have been resolved, and that is why stakeholders are calling for an unbiased audit or an unbiased evaluation of this present register.

“Because given the short timelines that we have, we just need to look at what’s the most feasible intervention, and I think that what INEC has done needs to be subjected to public scrutiny.”