ABUDU – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cancelled 1,600 Permanent Voters Card (PVC) requests in Orhionmwon local government area of Edo State for multiple registrations.
The commission had registered around two thousand eligible voters in the area since the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) commenced on Monday July 26.
Our correspondent however noticed the names and photographs that appeared in the first phase, at the Orhionmwon office of INEC were less than five hundred.
According to an official, the commission deployed Automated Biometrics Identification System to identify and remove double registrations as part of it ongoing cleaning up exercise.
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity blamed politicians for the unlawful act, explaining that the Automated System can identify and remove irregular registrants as well as eliminate underage registration.
“the fault is with politicians who keep mobilising them from different areas in the local government without educating them; and they don’t even care to know if the people they are mobilising to go register have registered before”, the official told The Nigerian OBSERVER on Monday at Abudu, near Benin city
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had warned voters against multiple registrations for PVCs, as Section 117 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) prohibits registering more than once.
The Act also spells out a fine not exceeding N100,000 or jail term for one year or both when found guilty of the crime.
Meanwhile, 1,856,771 persons have so far completed their online and physical voters registrations as at 7 a.m. on Monday, November 22, 2021.
