BY BRIGHT JACOB
The decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to not extend the July 31, 2022, deadline for the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration has come under scrutiny, with many stakeholders questioning the rationale behind the electoral umpire’s decision to end an exercise meant to enfranchise more Nigerians.
INEC had earlier fixed June 30 as the deadline for the CVR. However, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and 185 other concerned Nigerians, had approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and prayed the court to stop the discontinuation of the registration by INEC after June 30.
In the suit filed by SERAP and the 185 concerned Nigerians, they asked 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.”
SERAP also sought an order “restraining INEC, its agents, privies, assigns, or any other person(s) claiming through it from discontinuing the continuous voters’ registration exercise from the 30th June 2022 or any other date pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
Among the arguments it presented before the court, SERAP said it was the duty of INEC to ensure they indulged people who wanted to vote during the elections by registering them. SERAP also said it was unfair INEC allowed party primaries to be extended for 6 days (June 3 to June 9) without reciprocating such a gesture to the CVR.
“One of the people’s most sacred rights is the right to vote. The commission (INEC) has a constitutional and statutory responsibility to ensure the effective exercise of the right of all eligible voters to participate in their own government.
“Extending the deadline for party primaries without providing adequate time and opportunity for eligible voters to register and participate in the 2023 general elections would amount to unfair and discriminatory treatment of Nigerian voters, and violate other human rights.
“Extending the voter registration deadline would provide more time for eligible voters, including young people, the elderly, people living with disability, as well as those residents in states facing security challenges and living in IDP camps to participate in the 2023 elections,” SERAP argued in its statement to the court.
“There should not even be a stopping date to it. If the elections are holding in about two months’ time from now, and we say we are stopping the registration today, someone is going to turn 18 every week. This is why the entire process has to be a continuous thing”
Thus, on June 20, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon granted an order of interim injunction that compelled INEC to refrain from ending the exercise until the case had been determined.
On July 13 when the court delivered its final verdict, it dismissed the suit filed by SERAP and the 185 concerned Nigerians who sought an extension of the CVR beyond June 30.
The court in its wisdom said that INEC was free to appoint a date of its choosing to end the CVR, so long it was not later than 90 days before the date slated for the General Elections as provided in Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022.
After that verdict, the spokesperson of INEC, Festus Okoye, said in a statement on July 15 that after the interim injunction by the court allowed the CVR to run for almost two weeks after the June 30 deadline, the Commission would officially extend the exercise till July 31.
Okoye said, “The Court has affirmed that INEC is at liberty to appoint a date of its choice to suspend the CVR, provided it is not later than 90 days before the date fixed for the General Election as provided in Sec. 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022.
“In compliance with the interim injunction of the Court pending the determination of the substantive suit, and in order to enable more Nigerians to register, the Commission continued with the CVR beyond 30th June 2022. For this reason, the CVR has already been extended beyond 30th June 2022 for a period of 15 days.
“The CVR is hereby extended for another two weeks until Sunday 31st July 2022, thereby bringing the total duration of the extension to 31 days (1st – 31st July 2022),” Okoye said.
The INEC spokesman also said that Saturdays and Sundays would be included in the days eligible voters could register at any of the centres and the time for registration each day would be from 9am to 5pm, and no longer 9am to 3pm.
Okoye however expressed dismay at the level of turnout for the exercise, and hoped that the July 31 extension would witness a larger number of “prospective registrants.”
His words: “We observed that following the continuation of the exercise beyond 30th June 2022, many of the registration centres recorded low turnout of prospective registrants.
“With this two-week extension, we appeal to eligible citizens not to wait until the last few days before they inundate the centres again to register.”
The extension, notwithstanding, the Coalition of Nigerian Voters last week called for an extension of the CVR.
In a statement by its Convener, Asuzu Echezona, the group said INEC reneged on its promise to ensure every eligible voter in the country keen on participating in the electoral process was registered, and millions of Nigerians found it difficult to register.
Part of the statement reads, “As it stands today, there are still millions of Nigerians who are surging the sparsely located registration centres across the country struggling to get registered.
“With the current rate of registration, it is public knowledge that there is no magic that would make INEC accommodate every voter who wants to register for the 2023 general elections before the current deadline of 31st July 2022.
“This would result in the disenfranchisement of millions of Nigerians willing and eager to perform their civic responsibilities in the 2023 polls. This would be defeatist to INEC objectives.
Contacted by The Point to respond to some of the burning issues surrounding the CVR, the INEC spokesperson said he would get back to us as he was “supervising the last leg of the CVR in Abia State.”
As at the time of filing this report, he was yet to do so.
The CVR, which officially ended nationwide on Sunday, led to the shutdown of most markets in Lagos State last week Wednesday and Thursday by the Iyaloja-General of Lagos, Iyabo Tinubu-Ojo.
Traders were enjoined to close shops and get registered so that they could vote during the general elections next year. Some customers who thronged the markets to purchase household items met the markets locked.
Nonetheless, markets like the “Computer Village” in Ikeja had traders who stood outside their shops and stalls hoping to open briefly when a customer showed interest in making a purchase.
In a similar vein, the Lagos State Government approved work-free days for its civil servants who were yet to register for or collect their Permanent Voter’s Card from designated INEC centres.
According to a statement by the Head of Service, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, there were four work-free days which started on Tuesday July 26 to Friday July 29, and different grade level workers had a day off to go and get registered. The workers were also required to bring along their PVCs when returning for work.
Reacting to the cessation of registration, a social commentator, Udume Peter Emevo, told The Point that the July 31 deadline would disenfranchise many Nigerians from participating in the general elections next year. According to him, the process should be a continuous one as “someone is going to turn 18 every week.”
“Of course, the CVR should be continuous. There should not even be a stopping date to it. If the elections are holding in about two months’ time from now, and we say we are stopping the registration today, someone is going to turn 18 every week. This is why the entire process has to be a continuous thing,” he asserted.
On the provision of the Electoral Act which stipulates that registration stopped 90 days to the General Elections, Emevo said the decision by INEC to stop it almost 210 days to the elections was not justified.
Told that the electoral umpire craved for ample time to process registered voters hence their decision to end the registration now, Emevo said, “They (INEC) could have done far more than what they’re doing now. That is why they send so many billions to INEC yearly.
“If the data is available, why should the printing of the card take so much time in this day and age of technology? They must justify the billions that are entering into INEC yearly,” he concluded.
