Voter Registration: INEC Assures Port Harcourt Residents of Extension

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has assured teeming agitated Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, registrants of an extension of the registration exercise by one month.

The National Commissioner of INEC in charge of Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye gave the assurance yesterday at the commission’s office in Port Harcourt City, the capital of Rivers State, south-south Nigeria.

Okoye, who pleaded with the agitated prospective registrants to exercise patience as the commission was working to get more Nigerians registered, stated, “we are going to extend this voters’ registration process to make sure that every person, who has an opportunity of registering, gets to register. So, you do not need to be agitated.”

Eleventh hour syndrome
Reacting to complaints from some of the registrants, who leaned on the gates of the commission’s office to gain immediate access after spending days waiting for turns to register, he said, “this voter registration started 11 months ago on June 28, 2021 and that was when we started the online. Then in July of the same year, we started the physical registration.

“Sometimes, we register an individual here – one person a day. But, you know you cannot even legislate on the attitude of people. We have this eleventh hour syndrome. But, I am not relying on that. The point I am making is that we had announced that this registration was going to end on the 30th of June.

“I am assuring you it is not going to close on the 30th. We are going to continue until we are sure that we have registered every person, who shows up”, he assured.

Avoid double registration
The National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education advised the prospective registrants against double registration, which would lead to cancellations.

“Let me say this, if you have ever registered before and you register again, you are engaging in a futile exercise. It is because the equipment we are using will show us that you had registered before and we will cancel the registration.

“If you have lost your PVC, please, tell us that you have lost your PVC and we will schedule you for a new one, do not register again. If your PVC is defaced, we will schedule you for a new one, do not register again,” he pleaded.

Polling unit transfers
Okoye further advised those seeking to transfer from one polling unit to another not to register afresh as the commission had made adequate provision to transfer registered voters, who have changed locations to the polling unit nearest to their new homes.
For those seeking to change their names, he appealed, “please, even if you have changed your name, do not register again. We will detect it because your face will appear twice and we will cancel the fresh one.

“so please, let us be honest and orderly. I commend your patience and assure you that every person, who wants to register, would get an opportunity of registering. Whether you register today or tomorrow, we are going to make sure that we, at least, extend the registration period by the next 30 days to make sure that as many people as possible get to register,” he added.

Emmanuel Ukoh