The Independent National Electoral Commission has said a total of 269,992 new voters were registered during the voter registration exercise in Edo and Ondo states.
The National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, announced this in a statement on Tuesday.
“Statistics from the CVR as of Sunday 9th June 2024 when the registration was suspended indicates a total of 269,992 new voters in the two states. Of this figure, 129,246 (47.87 per cent) are male, while 140,756 (52.13 per cent) are female.
“Still, the majority of the registered voters (182,541 or 67.61 per cent) are youths (18-34 years). In terms of occupation, 95,463 (35.36 per cent) are students while 1,588 (0.59 per cent) are Persons with Disability.
“In addition, 24,454 requests for replacement of PVCs, 74,493 applications for voter transfer and 8,314 for information update were received,” the statement noted.
According to the national commissioner, the preliminary voter register would be displayed for public scrutiny from Wednesday, June 12, 2024, for seven days.
The display, he said, would be held across all 395 wards in the two states and the register will also be accessible on the INEC website.
“The next step after the suspension of the CVR as provided by Section 19 of the Electoral Act 2022 is the display of the register for claims and objections by citizens for seven days (one week) from tomorrow, Wednesday 12th June 2024.
“The display will take place in all the 395 wards across the two states. The register will also be available on our website: https://cvr.inecnigeria.org/register.
“The purpose of the display is for the public to identify any ineligible persons on the register, draw the commission’s attention to it and file an objection to the appearance of the name on the register by completing Forms EC2 and EC3 available from our officials in all the centres. The Forms can also be downloaded from our website – https://inecnigeria.org/?page_id=13655 – and handed over to our officials as provided in Section 9(4) of the Electoral Act 2022,” he noted.
Olumekun further said fresh registrants and applicants for transfer, correction of personal details and replacement of lost or damaged PVCs could draw the commission’s attention to errors or wrong entries for further action.
“At the end of the period for claims and objections, the commission will further clean up the register using the Automated Biometric Identification System before the list of new voters is added to the existing register for the two states,” he noted.
The electoral body appealed to the public to participate actively in the process to ensure a clean and accurate voter register as provided by law.
“Once again, the commission wishes to emphasise that these are preliminary figures.
“The final figures will be published on a state-by-state basis after the period for claims/objections and ABIS. The date for the commencement of the collection of new PVCs will be announced thereafter.
“The commission appeals to the public to seize the opportunity of the display of the register to help us clean it up, as provided by law,” the statement noted.
