The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says a total of 269,992 new voters were registered in the just concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Edo and Ondo.
The commission disclosed this in a statement by Mr Sam Olumekun, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, after its regular meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.
Olumekun said that of the 269,992 newly registered voters, 129,246 representing 47.87 per cent were male, while 140,756 representing 52.13 per cent were female.
“Still, the majority of the registered voters (182,541 or 67.61 per cent) are youths between 18 years and 34 years.
“In terms of occupation, 95,463 or 35.36 per cent are students while 1,588 representing 0.59 per cent are Persons with Disability (PWDs).
“In addition, 24,454 requests for replacement of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), 74,493 applications for voter transfer and 8,314 for information update were received,” he said
Olumekun, however, said the statistics were preliminary figures, adding that the final figures would be published on state by state basis after the period for claims/objections and Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) .
He added that the date for the commencement of collection of new PVCs would be announced thereafter.
Olumekun also disclosed that in line with Section 19 of the Electoral Act 2022, the commission would display preliminary register of voters in the two states from Wednesday for claims and objections by citizens.
He said the register would be displayed for a period of seven days in all the 395 wards across the two states as well INEC website: https://cvr.inecnigeria.org/register.
Olumekun said the purpose of the display was for the public to identify any ineligible persons on the register and to draw the commission’s attention to it.
He said it was also for the public to file an objection to appearance of the name on the register by completing Forms EC2 and EC3 available from our officials in all the centres.
He said the forms could also be downloaded from INEC website – https://inecnigeria.org/?page_id=13655 – and handed over to the commission’s officials as provided in Section 9(4) of the Electoral Act 2022.
“Furthermore, fresh registrants and applicants for transfer, correction of personal details and replacement of lost or damaged PVCs can draw the commission’s attention to errors or wrong entries for further action.
“At the end of the period for claims and objections, the commission will further clean up the register using the ABIS before the list of new voters is added to the existing register for the two states,” he said.
Olumekun appealed to the public to seize opportunity of the display of the register to help INEC clean it up as provided by law.
