Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Zamfara has urged 341,0401 eligible voters who started the online registration, to complete it and collect their Voter Cards ahead of the June deadline.
Prof. Saidu Ahmed, Zamfara INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), made appeal while addressing newsmen in Gusau.
He said the commission would continue to collaborate with relevant stakeholders, to sensitise eligible persons who had not registered, to come out en mass to register, to enable them to participate in the 2023 general elections.
“The CVR has been going on since June 2021 in the state office and local government headquarters.
“From the beginning of last April, INEC started to rotate to ward level (depending on the security situation),” Ahmed said.
He noted that sufficient arrangements had been made to reach every nook and cranny in the state.
“At this point, I will like to request all stakeholders, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, opinion moulders, NGOs, the media, and political parties to call on those who have not registered before to do so.
“Also those who reached the age of 18 years or whose cards were lost or defaced as well as those who wish to update their information; to go to the nearest registration point and do so before the end of next month, June,’’ he said.
Ahmed, while giving an update on the ongoing Continuous Voters’ Registration in Zamfara, noted that out of the 341, 040 who began their online registration, only 69, 815 had completed the exercise.
He said as of December 2021, out of the 33,069 persons who completed their registration, 19,469 were valid while 13,600, representing 41.1 per cent, were invalid.
The REC appealed to residents, especially those who attained 18 years and above, to take advantage of the online and physical Voters’ Registration to register ahead of the elections.
According to him, registrants who registered online but did not complete the physical process of thumb printing cannot participate in any election.
The commissioner urged political parties to notify the commission in the state of their scheduled dates and venue of their party primaries for it to monitor the process, to ensure substantial compliance with provision of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended.
He said INEC would also ensure the party primaries were in line with the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and relevant provisions of the political parties’ constitution and guidelines.
The commissioner said no sensitive electoral materials were affected in the recent fire that razed the INEC office in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area.
Ahmed said the entire building was substantially burnt but no life was lost in the incident.
According to him, most of the electoral materials were evacuated by good Samaritans as the firemen and the Police were still investigating the cause.
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