The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has stated that it is unable to remove the names of dead registered voters from the voters register, due to the absence of reliable data of births and deaths, to determine who is really dead or not,
The National Commissioner and Chairman of INEC Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said this in an interview with The Punch.
His exact words: “The Commission displays the voter register for claims and objections, but few Nigerians pay attention to the process. Nigerians must assist the Commission to clean up the voter register, by coming forward to point out deceased individuals, or those that are not supposed to be in the voter register.
“Secondly, the country does not have reliable data of births and deaths, and the Commission cannot engage in arbitrary removal of the names of individuals it suspects are deceased.
“Our new software currently in use has been robust and has been detecting multiple registrants. We as a people and as a country must not condone and or connive in community aided and politically motivated under age registration. This Commission is resolved and determined to prosecute all electoral infractions.”
More news later…