In the last election in Nigeria, the number of voters in the Voters Register of INEC was very high, but the people who voted were not near the number at all.
It appears Nigeria has some ghost voters that are existing in the register of INEC and lawmakers are not comfortable with it.
Lawmakers have decided that anyone who does not vote in two consecutive election cycles should be removed from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) register as non-existent human
Indeed, the House of Representatives is asking INEC to remove fictitious and deceased Nigerian names from its voter list.
The resolution was passed unanimously by the House on Thursday, following the unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance proposed by a member, Leke Abejide.
The House also charged its Committee on Electoral Matters with ensuring that the resolutions were followed.
Prior to the recently concluded general elections, INEC released the final list of voters for the 2023 general elections on January 11, 2023.
Registered voters increased from 84,004,084 in 2019 to 93,469,008 in 2023.
But the House of Representatives said: “As a result of incorrect voter registration figures in the recently concluded election”.
The House decided that anyone who does not vote in two consecutive election cycles should be removed from the INEC register as non-existent human beings.
Dead And Non-Existent Persons
The motion’s title was ‘Urgent Need for Independent National Electoral Commission to Develop Mechanism to Clean Up Its System of Dead and Fictitious Registered Voters.’
INEC’s register, according to Abejide, is “full of millions of people who are dead and non-existent persons”.
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He said: “It was glaring and crystal clear in the last general elections that people who were long dead had their names still displayed in the voters’ register.
“Even my late father, who died many years ago, had his name displayed on the board.
“In addition to dead voters, there are millions of fictitious voters who do not exist anywhere on this planet but have their names on the INEC voter register.
“It is believed that this occurred as a result of double or multiple registrations by Nigerians with the intent or knowledge of rigging elections”.
However, with the implementation of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, these faceless individuals are no longer able to vote.”
The House agreed that “INEC should conduct vigorous public enlightenment for all Nigerians to be much aware of what makes the voters’ register bogus, which is the numbers of dead and fictitious persons”.
The lawmakers also agreed that INEC should create a mechanism or software application through which families who have lost loved ones can report their death.
The Permanent Voter Card number can then be removed from the commission’s register, polling unit, and ward.
Another resolution suggested that INEC include voter verification in its ongoing voter registration campaign.
This will aid in identifying those on the register who are still alive, as well as weeding out those who have obtained false registration.
