Oyo-born Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, who is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Commissioner in charge of Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states, has given reasons why the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) is important, saying that all eligible voters whose names are not in the voters’ register should take advantage of the opportunity provided by the commission. He said without the registration they would not be able to vote in future elections.
Ogunmola, who is an ex-provost of the Oyo State College of Education, OYSCOED, Oyo, made the remark during the kick off of CVR in Surulere, Lagos, saying that the registration applies to Nigerians who are 18 years and above, who have not registered before and those who have registered but their names are not in the voters’ register.
The Nation quoted the former Resident Electoral of Lagos and later Osun as urging eligible voters to present themselves at the commission’s offices in all local government areas between 9am and 3pm, Monday to Friday(excluding public holidays), to participate in the exercise. He added that Temporary Voters Card (TVC) will be issued to registrants at the point of the day.
The commissioner said the CVR represents an important milestone in the commission’s mandate to consolidate democracy in the country, by delivering free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “The primary aim of this event is to register eligible voters who have just matured into the voting age of 18 years and those who for one reason or the other could not register previously, so they can participate in the forthcoming general elections.
“Related to this aim is the update of the voters’ register, to reflect transfers and deaths in accordance with Section 10 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), which requires the commission to update the Voters’ Register and make it available to every political party within 60 days after each year of registration.”
Ogunmola said the period of the CVR is also an opportunity for those who have registered, but have not collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), to do so.
He said the exercise will equally take care of other cases, such as: “A person who has registered before, but his/her name, photograph and/or fingerprints was/were not captured; this category of person must provide his/her Temporary Voter’s Card (TVC). A person who has a PVC or TVC, but his/her name is not on the register of voters”.
The commissioner also urged eligible voters that have moved to a different location to seize the opportunity to transfer their registration.
The procedure for the transfer of registration, he added, could be summarised in the following four steps: “The person seeking to transfer their registration should make an application to the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the state he/she is resident in through his/her Electoral Officer; a Registration Area Officer (RAO) will issue a form, Application for Transfer of a Registered Voter (ECTF), to the registered voter applying for the transfer for approval by the Resident Electoral Officer; once the REC has confirmed that the applicant is resident in the area, the application will be approved and the applicant’s details will be transferred to his/her new location; and the transfer will be accordingly effected on our server.”
