The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday said it had expunged 299 names of aliens
from the voter register.
Mahmood Yakubu, chairman
of the commission, made this known at a consultative meeting of the commission
with security agencies in Abuja.
Yakubu said the
foreigners were discovered through information made available by the Nigerian
Immigration Service (NIS).
He said registering to
vote and actual voting were exclusive rights of Nigeria’s citizens to which
aliens were excluded by law.
According to him, the
commission has agreed with NIS to deploy their officers to every registration
centre nationwide to ensure that only Nigerians are registered.
The INEC chairman
promised that the commission would continue to work in partnership with all
security agencies to purge the voter register of all ineligible voters.
“Those who are below the
age of 18, aliens, those registered in absentia, those barred by statutory
regulations from registering as voters are not qualified,” he said.
“Persons who do not
ordinarily reside, work or originate from the area covered by the registration
are ineligible.
“We will continue to
thoroughly scrutinise registrants in the ongoing exercise in order to ensure
that only eligible registrants get registered.”
Yakubu said the
consultative meeting came at exactly 350 days to the commencement of the 2019
general election.
He added that the meeting
was also timely as it was 133 days and 203 days to governorship elections in
Ekiti and Osun, respectively.
He assured the electorate
that the commission, in collaboration with security agencies, would continue to
work in line with the rules of engagement.
Yakubu said the synergy
would guarantee citizens’ rights during campaigns and actual voting in a
professional and non-partisan manner, consistent with the provisions of the
law.
He said INEC was working
hard to address all the challenges currently facing the ongoing continuous
voter registration (CVR).
He assured all registered
voters and those intending to register, of getting their permanent voters card
(PVC) before the 2019 elections.
INEC detects names of 299 foreigners in voter register
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Friday, March 02, 2018
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