SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the 2023 voters’ register released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had some irregularities that took place during the Continuous Voters Registration, as well as, validated the claims of multiple registrations and underage voters existing in the voters’ list.
A former Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mike Igini, on Thursday blamed INEC officials for fake names, multiple registrations and underage voters existing in the voters’ list.
SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the 2023 voters’ register released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had some irregularities that took place during the Continuous Voters Registration, as well as, validated the claims of multiple registrations and underage voters existing in the voters’ list.
INEC had said the entire preliminary register containing 93,522,272 registrants will be published for 2 weeks on the INEC portal, from November 12 to 25.
The commission added that individuals could make claims that the name of a registered voter had been omitted and could make corrections.
He added that citizens could raise objections against the inclusion of any person either not qualified to vote or the name of a dead person on the register.
In September, INEC said it detected many double, multiple and ineligible registration in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) held between January 1 and July 31.
The commission added that after a rigorous clean-up of the data using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) 2,780,756 registrants were identified as ineligible and were deleted from the register.
The commission said about 23 of its officers were found culpable in aiding the double registration of voters, adding that there will be severe sanctions for the officers involved.
However, a review of some of the states on the INEC released register showed that there still exist irregularities in the voters’ list.
The register contained double registration, underage voters and some fictitious names imported to participate in the 2023 election.
Some names were found to appear multiple times on the voters’ register.
This is despite the claim by INEC that double and multiple registrations are invalid and were deleted from the register.
These details have the same name, personal information, and photographs but different Voter Identification Numbers (VINs)
However, Barrister Mike Igini who blamed INEC officials for the irregularities, said INEC had got to a level where they did not talk about unknown officers.
He asserted that all those who registered those ineligible individuals are staff, stressing that they should be dealt with.
He said; "First, I blame INEC officials, because it's not everybody in INEC has done that. Interestingly, INEC has gotten to a level, where we don't talk about unknown officers.
"All those who registered those ineligible individual, they are staff, and INEC has responded by saying that those staff have been dealt with. In the first place they opt not to have done so.
"Again, that's also a reflection of the collapse of family values in Nigeria, those children who are seen belong to parents.
"So where people now agree and allow their children, babies to be registered, It tells you how broken our society is. That there is a breakdown of family values in our society today.
"Otherwise, would you allow your eight years or nine years to register if you're a responsible parent, so all those who appears are Irresponsible Nigerians, irresponsible parents."
Mike Igini, while speaking at the 27th Anti-Corruption Situation Room, ACSR, organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA, in Abuja on Thursday also said that all attempts by certain political parties to amend the 2022 Electoral Act ahead of the 2023 general elections would fail.
He explained that the 2022 Electoral Act would dislodge unnecessary litigations by politicians to attain political positions, adding that the new electoral act bestows much powers on the people to decide who leads them.
He said, by this electoral act many electoral anomalies will be halted and that is why there is moral everywhere. Even now, there has been an attempt for an amendment but you see you cannot abort a pregnancy that had been delivered.
“INEC made a total of 91 proposals and only 48 were accepted by the National Assembly but did they even read what they accepted to us? Because the basis of the moral panic is that the reality of what has been passed is that power has been returned to the Nigerian people. This is my source of joy and one of the things that as I was leaving it, I said we will be leaving the place better than we met it because of the 2022 Electoral Act.
“If only the people are aware that power has been taken back to them, that the polling unit is now the centre of the universe in the electoral process. Elections are now won and lost at the polling unit, no longer at collation centres. It’s all over. This is the basis for the moral panic. today.
“Section 137 is to the effect that unlike before at the tribunal a party will say I have 300 witnesses that we want to invite. No more witnesses to be called again because the INEC election is purely documentary.
“Today, we spend more money at the tribunal than the normal election.We are going to end the business of election tribunals in this country and that is the direction INEC is going”, he added.
He said that from 2011 till date INEC had been investing massive resources in a bid to improve the country’s electoral process, adding that the 2023 general elections would not be business as usual.
He also said rigging of elections, and illegal purchase of Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, would suffer setbacks in 2023 with the introduction of Bimodal Accreditation of Voters, BVAs.