Nigerians have begun scrutinising the recently released national register of voters by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The list of voters has been displayed across polling units in the country and on the commission’s website.
The commission said the display of the register was an important pre-election exercise that allows registered voters to raise claims and objections as well as other issues affecting their registration.
The register, which was released on 12 November, has drawn criticisms from various Nigerians concerning the faces and names of underage persons.
Section 12, subsection one (b) of the Electoral Act 2022 states that ‘a person shall be qualified to be registered as a voter if such a person has attained the age of 18 years’.
To this end, the commission appears to have defaulted by registering voters who are not up to 18 years of age.
Also, section 19, subsection three (a) states that ‘any person may raise an objection on the form prescribed by the commission against the inclusion in the supplementary voters’ register of the name of a person on grounds that the person is not qualified to be registered as a voter in the state, local government or area council, ward or registration area..’.
Many Nigerians who have reacted on Twitter have called on INEC to do the needful regarding the number of underage voters that has been evident on the register.
A Twitter user, @SportsDokita, said, ‘INEC is showing they can’t be trusted with next year’s election’..
INEC @inecnigeria is showing they can’t be trusted with next years election.
Going through the INEC Voters online portal and seeing these kids on it left me really sad.
How could these kids register successfully but 49.5% adults from the south don’t know how to register??? pic.twitter.com/Q1sblFf30x
— SportsDokita (Odogwu ☝️) (@Sports_Doctor2) November 13, 2022
Another tweep, @Akwarichales, questioned INEC’s competence.
It is time to call out @inecnigeria on their incompetence.
Mahmood Yakubu has shown that he cannot competently deliver free and credible election in 2023.
With the widespread underage voter registration fraud happening in the North.
— Uncle Charles (@AkwariCharles) November 14, 2022
For this Twitter user, @_Weyimi, INEC has some questions to answer.
@inecnigeria These are children! You lied about a free and fair election, you lied about child voting.
What’s worse is that @inecnigeria thinks Nigerians are so stupid. The rot has eaten this system so badly. I believe inec and those they are working with hate Nigerians. pic.twitter.com/HW0VKf8EUF
— Weyimi B. Lube 𓃵 (@_weyimi) November 13, 2022
As for rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, @AishaYesufu, she called on INEC to correct discrepancies found in the register.
INEC do not be unfortunate with this underage registrationhttps://t.co/uJNPwrW6yc
— Aisha Yesufu (@AishaYesufu) November 13, 2022
Although INEC has advised citizens to make their claims and raise objections from the portal, some persons have complained of not being able to make these objections.
Recall that the commission had in September 2022 delisted 1,126,359 fresh registrants on the grounds that they were part of several double, multiple, and ineligible registrants that were detected; and that they included entries that failed to meet requirements.
Asides from the issue of underage voters, some citizens have complained of wrong information on their registration details.
Democracy remains hypothetical if those in public authorities cannot be held liable to account for their act of omissions, commissions, policies and outlay in the conduct of their authorised responsibilities.
Therefore, INEC, as a responsible government agency, must ensure that it conducts its processes bearing in mind the need for accountability, transparency and credibility.
The electoral umpire must ensure that it cleans up its voter register to reflect all of the concerns that have been pointed out, and ensure that the portal allows a hitch-free process to register complaints.
Photo source: CDD West Africa
