Following wide circulation and
readership that greeted the part one of this informative and educative
publication, more reasons and facts abound as per our submission that over
35million registered Nigerian voters have been disenfranchised by Jega’s INEC;
and that there is thickened desperation by powers that be at INEC to return the
Presidency of the country to the North at all costs using technical and
demographic electoral manipulation processes designed lopsidedly between the
North and the South.
More Facts: By
the text of a press conference held by Jega’s INEC, dated 10th
September 2014, which it sent to the leadership of Intersociety via DHL
on 24th September 2014; the total number of registered voters as at
September 24, 2014 was 70, 383, 427 (seventy million, three hundred &
eighty three thousand, four hundred & twenty seven). In 2011, after the
post automated fingerprint identification software process used to eliminate
double/multiple registrants and clean up the virgin National Register of
Voters; this same figure was bandied about by Jega’s INEC as the country’s
total registered voters. Till date, this figure has remained not withstanding
various continuous voters’ registration and re-validation exercises that
ought to have increased the current number of registered voters in Nigeria.
From the look of things, it is like more Nigerians both registered and eligible
but non-registered voters are being disenfranchised by Jega’s INEC day in day
out.
From Jega’s INEC statistics of 70,
383, 427 registered voters in Nigeria, the six geopolitical breakdown is as
follows: 1. Northwest Zone: Kano State 4, 751, 818, Kaduna State 3, 743, 815,
Katsina State 2, 928, 046, Sokoto State 2, 113, 698, Jigawa State 1, 817, 087,
Zamfara State 1, 802, 301 and Kebbi State 1, 459, 734; total 18, 616,509
registered voters.2. North-Central Zone: Plateau State 2, 082, 725, Benue
State 2, 340, 718, Nassarawa State 1, 291, 876, Kogi State 1, 305, 533, Kwara
State 1, 125, 035 and Niger State 2, 427, 081; total registered voters 10, 572,
968. 3.Northeast Zone: Borno State 2, 570, 349, Bauchi State 2, 502, 609,
Adamawa State 1, 682, 907, Gombe State 1, 208, 927, Taraba State 1, 279, 394
and Yobe State 1, 203, 324; total registered voters 10, 447, 570. The FCT
registered voters are 892, 628.
Southwest Zone: 4. Lagos State 5,
426, 391, Oyo State 2, 487, 132, Ogun State 1, 796, 024, Ondo State 1, 472,
237, Osun State 1, 318, 120 and Ekiti State 688, 950; total registered voters
13, 188, 854. 5.South-south Zone: Rivers State 2, 466, 977, Delta State 2, 044,
372, Akwa Ibom State 1, 621, 798, Edo State 1, 593, 488, Cross River
State 1, 169, 469 and Bayelsa State 590, 679; total registered voters 9, 486,
783. 6. Southeast Zone: Anambra State 1, 784, 536, Imo State 1, 672, 666, Abia
State 1, 387, 844, Enugu State 1, 313, 128 and Ebonyi State 1, 020, 011; total
registered voters 7, 178, 185.
The forgoing breakdown when
carefully calculated shows that there are a total of 68, 383, 497 (Jega’s INEC
document contains “70, 383, 427”) registered voter; out of which the North has
39, 637, 047, excluding the Federal Capital Territory, which has 892, 628. In
the entire South, there are only 27, 853, 822 registered voters as against the
North’s 39, 637, 047. Of the total figure under reference (68, 383, 497), only
54, 341, 610 PVCs (Permanent Voters Cards) have been delivered to
Jega’s INEC by its contrators as at January 7, 2015. This simply means that 14,
041, 797 registered voters in the country have been disenfranchised. This
excludes hundreds of thousands of the newly registered voters and those that
have gone through voters’ cards transfer. Also, by distributing
only 38, 774, 219 PVCs as at January 7, 2015, other 15, 567, 219
registered voters have been disenfranchised by Jega’s INEC bringing to total
over 35 million registered voters disenfranchised across the country till date.
Further, the Southerners are worse
affected by the disenfranchisement under reference. In Kano, Kaduna and Plateau
States, for instance, most of over five million Igbo residents in those States
have been disenfranchised owing to their mass relocation to other parts of the
country following ceaseless attacks on their lives and properties by Boko Haram
and sectarian insurgencies. No efforts by Jega’s INEC have been put in place to
re-capture them as registered voters till date. Over 3m Igbos lived in Kano
State alone before the escalation of insurgency in the State. During the peace
times in the North in recent past, they formed a noticeable part of registered
voters in the area, but owing to present violent times, they have relocated out
of the area to save their lives and properties. As a result, they have formed
bulk of the registered voters in the North that have not collected their PVCs
or engaged in the process of voters’ cards transfer.
In the six geopolitical zonal PVCs
distribution recently carried by Jega’s INEC, the analysis done by our
organization shows that the Southeast and the Southwest zones are the worse
hit. In the Southeast, out of total registered voters of 7, 178, 185, only 3,
915, 241 have received their PVCs leaving 3, 262,
944 disenfranchised. In the Southwest, out of total registered voters of 13,
188, 854, only 6,070, 736 have received their PVCs leaving 7,
118, 188 disenfranchised. In the South-south, out of total registered voters of
9, 486, 783, only 5, 766, 018 have received their PVCs leaving 3,
720, 765 disenfranchised.
In the Northwest, out of total
registered voters of 18, 616, 509, as much as 12, 013, 961 have received their PVCs
leaving 6, 602, 567 disenfranchised including over 4m Igbo residents who were
either killed violently or fled the area to escape insurgency. In the
North-central, out of total registered voters of 10, 572, 968, as much as 5,
520, 001 have collected their PVCs with 5, 052, 967
disenfranchised. In the Northeast, out of total registered voters of 10, 447,
570, total of 4, 886, 141 registered voters have collected their PVCs (excluding
Borno State).
In all, while total of 22,
420, 103 (twenty two million, four hundred & twenty thousand, one hundred
& three) registered voters have collected their PVCs in the
North (excluding Borno State and FCT), whereas only 15, 751, 995 (fifteen
million, seven hundred & fifty one thousand, nine hundred & ninety
five) have collected theirs in the South leaving 12, 101, 827 disenfranchised.
Added to over five million Southerners resident in the North, who fled the area
and became disenfranchised, it may be correct to say that over 17m Southern
registered voters have been disenfranchised and ousted from participating and
voting in the crucial polls under reference courtesy of Jega’s INEC.
The number of eligible voter
registrants not captured during the continuous voters’ registration
exercises in the South is in hundreds of thousands if not in millions.
There is also high incidence of missing voters register/names,cards
particularly in the South causing further disenfranchisement of tens, if not
hundreds of thousands of registered voters. It is shocking that out of total
registered voters of 5, 426, 391 in Lagos State, only 2, 159, 091 have received
their PVCs leaving 3, 267, 300 disenfranchised. In Oyo State, out
of total registered voters of 2, 487, 132, only 1, 141, 405 have received their
PVCs leaving 1, 345, 727 disenfranchised. In Anambra State, out of
total registered voters of 1, 784, 536, only 862, 747 have received their PVCs
leaving 921, 789 disenfranchised. And in Imo State, out of total
registered voters of 1, 672, 666, only 682, 046 have collected their PVCs
leaving 990, 620 disenfranchised.
Demands: From
the foregoing analysis, it is clear that Jega’s INEC wants to plunge Nigeria
into chaos and bloodletting. It is also our firm view that remedial measures
proposed by Jega’s INEC are totally smokescreen measures. As a
result, making empty promises to Nigerians over these monumental demographic
and electoral failures are like putting salt into deep body cut. It is totally
correct to say that Jega’s INEC clearly lacks capacity, capability and ability
to get the 68, 383, 497 registered voters in Nigeria captured in the PVCs
not to talk of millions of newly registered and un-registered eligible
voters under continuous voters registration and supplementary
voters list arrangements.
Disenfranchising over 35m registered
Nigerian voters and enfranchising less than fifty percent of the voting
population is a total invitation to chaos and bloodletting in the country. To
get every registered voter in Nigeria to vote in the February crucial polls,
Jega’s INEC must lower some conditions and inhibitions as well as perceived
desperation to exploit mechanical demographic advantage so as to
return the Presidency to the North by fire by force. One of such
that must be lowered or discarded is Jega’s INEC insistence on the use of Permanent
Voters Cards in the referenced polls. That is to say that Jega’s INEC
must allow every registered voter to vote with either Permanent Voters
Card or Temporary Voters Card provided the voter’s name
is traced to the Voters Register. This is more so when no
provisions of the Electoral Act of 2010 pin point to PVCs as the
only voters cards to be used.
Another stringent process that must
be lowered is application and use of biometrics at the polling or
voting center for voters including the so called card reader.
This is because of apparent minus that Nigeria has in ICT usage and
advancement. For the purpose of the crucial February polls, ICT applications
should be restricted to INEC’s administrative uses only. Every Nigerian
registered voter should be allowed to vote manually using his or her voter’s
card which must be traced to the Voters Register. Allowing discriminatory
measures whereby in the far North with serious ICT challenges, ICT application
processes are relaxed for manual measures; whereas in the South, the former are
strictly applied must no longer be condoned.
Finally, to avoid impending chaos
and bloodletting, Jega’s INEC must ward off all desperate attempts to
compromise the crucial polls under reference and insist on and conduct all
inclusive, credible and violence free polls for Nigeria and Nigerians in
February 2015 particularly the Presidential poll. Every registered Nigerian
voter, no matter his or her ethno-religious background must be allowed to vote.
The idea of using electoral wards
for the distribution of the PVCs is totally rejected. The 119,
973 polling units across the country should be used with enough personnel
deployed. All the stringent and extortionist conditions frustrating,
discouraging and inhibiting registered voters from collecting their PVCs must
be lowered or discarded. Since the possibility of Jega’s INEC and its
contractors delivering all the PVCs before the polls proper is
not foreseeable, other favourable alternatives such as allowing Temporal
Voters Cards to be used side by side with PVCs should be
applied.
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi
Board Chairman, International Society for Civil Liberties
& the Rule of Law
+2348174090052, +2348100755939 (office)
Uzochukwu Oguejiofor, Esq., (LL.B, BL), Head, Campaign &
Publicity Department
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