INEC Bows To Pressure, Agrees To Extend Voter Registration By 60 Days

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has agreed to extend the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise by 60 days.

INEC Voter Registration

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Hon. Aishatu Jibril Dukku, disclosed this while briefing fellow lawmakers on the committee’s efforts to ensure implementation of a House resolution reached last week.

“The Committee held a meeting with INEC yesterday (Tuesday) and they agreed to extend the CVR, all our resolutions were approved,” she told members of the House at plenary on Wednesday.

KanyiDaily recalls that the House of Representatives had last Wednesday urged INEC to extend the deadline for the voter registration by an extra 60 days from June 30, 2022, to enable more Nigerians to register.

The House had also called on the Commission to deploy additional staff and voter registration machines across the country to meet the objective.

On Monday, the Federal High Court in Abuja had granted an order barring the commission from ending voter registration on 30 June 2022.

Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of Court 10 granted an order of interim injunction following the hearing of an argument on motion exparte by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

SERAP and 185 concerned Nigerians had filed the lawsuit against INEC asking the court to “declare unconstitutional, illegal, and incompatible with international standards the failure of the electoral body to extend the deadline for voter registration to allow eligible Nigerians to exercise their rights.”

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi has called out the INEC over slow pace of voter registration in the South-East.