The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has formally announced the indefinite extension of the continuous voters registration for the 2023 general election after originally being scheduled to end on June 30, 2022.
Festus Okoye, National Electoral Commissioner for INEC and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, made the disclosure in a statement issued on Thursday, in Abuja.
He affirms that the CVR will continue across the country, adding that all resident electoral commissioners and electoral officers have been instructed to continue the exercise in the meantime, pending further instructions from the commission.
Explaining the extension, Okoye stated that the commission has repeatedly reaffirmed its determination to keep providing electoral services to Nigerians by registering all eligible citizens who were interested in registering.
He said that the case, which concerned the CVR’s expiration date, was pending in a Federal High Court.
An interim injunction order had been issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja, preventing INEC from terminating voter registration on June 30, 2022.
“The matter came up on Wednesday June 29, 2022, and based on the request of the commission, the court granted an accelerated hearing and adjourned the matter to Monday July 4, 2022 for hearing of the substantive matter. The commission will give an update after court hearing next week”, Okoye said.
He continued by saying that INEC will keep helping the people of Nigeria and has sent out more equipment to high-pressure locations.
Okoye made the observation that INEC has received a deluge of requests for CTCs of various papers when discussing the issuing of Certified True Copy of documents.
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According to Okoye, 186 CTC requests have already been handled, some of which have been in excess of 100 pages long.
“The commission is working round the clock, including weekends, to attend to all such requests. We wish to assure political parties, aspirants, candidates, and all applicants for CTCs of documents that their applications will be treated expeditiously and will be issued in earnest.”
Okoye stated that the July 15, 2022 deadline provided to political parties for the submission of gubernatorial and State Assembly primary list and specifics of candidates was still in effect.
“By the timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission, political parties that conducted valid governorship and State Assembly primaries shall upload the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates between July 1 and 15 2022.
“We urge political parties to scrutinize the list and personal particulars of the candidates they propose to sponsor at the election to avoid any mix-up and duplication of names. Political parties are advised not to wait until the last day before uploading the list and personal particulars of their candidates.
“The candidates nomination portal will shut down at 6pm on July 15, 2022. Political parties that have challenges with uploading documents should contact the Commission’s Help Desk, through the dedicated telephone lines or contact the candidate nomination centre at the Commission’s Headquarters”, he said.
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