Mohammed Oluwatimileyin Taoheed reports,
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has eventually assured that the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) would not end on June 30, 2022 contrary to its earlier announcement.
Mahmood Yakubu, the current chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, made this on today when he visited the Youth Vote Count Mega Concert 2.0 organised by the commission in partnership with Yiaga Africa and funded by the European Union at the old parade ground, Abuja.
Yakubu commented that the commission would decide on the time deadline and will give a report on the outcome to the citizens of the country.
In his words: “The second thing is you want to know when will this registration end? Is it going to end on the 30th of June in the next five days? On behalf of INEC, let me assure you, e no go end for 30th June for as long as we have you people trying to register to obtain your Permanent Voter Card (PVC), we will continue to register you and we will continue to make sure that you get your PVC.”
The INEC chairman confirmed that 14, 000 Nigerians were registered in five days at the venue of the concert while giving an assurance that more machines would be deployed to ease registrations.
He stated: “In the place (Old Parade Ground, Abuja), in the last five days – from Monday to Friday; we have registered over 14, 000 Nigeians in this place alone. In this place, we have 50 voter registration machines.
“Two weeks ago, we deployed more machines to the states; more machines left yesterday (Friday) and more are leaving today (Saturday). By Monday there will be more machines to register Nigerians.
“We will not stop the registration until we are satisfied that those who wish to register are given the opportunity to do so.”
Mahmood also said the Permanent Voter Card would be ready for collection from October ahead of next year’s general election.
He advised Nigerians to ensure that they use the PVC to vote during elections.
Mahmood said: “When will your PVC be ready for collection? I want to assure you that the PVCs will be ready for collection latest October this year long before the election. All of you will have your PVCs.
“I want to thank you for making the PVC the most popular Identification Card in Nigeria today. Nothing beats the PVC but when you collect your PVC, don’t use it for other things.
“The PVCs are for elections not opening of bank accounts. Please use your PVC for elections.”
While responding to chants of No rigging from the crowd, the INEC chairman said: “For those of you who registered on the INEC Result Viewing Portal, you were seeing the results from the polling units on election day in Ekiti state.
“The Ekiti governorship election was good. Osun is going to be better and 2023 general elections will be the best.
“Your votes will count. But for those who have not yet registered, kindly do so to vote. We promise you your votes will count”.
Recall that Track News Nigeria had earlier reported that the show, started on Monday, June 20 ended on Saturday, with the Mega Music Concert featuring several celebrities like Innocent Idibia (2Baba); Zlatan; Omawunmi; MI; Falz; Real Warri Pikin; Teni; Broda Shaggi among others.
