Obi urges speed as Southeast voter numbers lag

In a tweet on Thursday afternoon, Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, asked INEC to speed up the registration process so Nigerians can vote. “Voter registration across Nigeria, more so in the South East, dogged by inertia and bureaucratic bottlenecks,” he said.

The southeast has the lowest turnout in newly registered voters and completed registrations, according to the most recent data from the electoral commission.

So far, there are 683,000 online registration voters and 585,000 have completed registrations in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.

As of Monday, June 6, the total number of freshly registered and completely registered voters was 10.5 million, and 6.9 million respectively.

Last Monday, Festus Okoye, the INEC commissioner in charge of communication and voter education, while hosting BBC reporters in his office in Abuja gave some guidelines for PVC registration. He stated that a new PVC would be provided for voters that have been previously registered which have been misplaced upon provision of an affidavit.

According to the commissioner, Nigerians with defaced cards must get new ones, and those who changed location to another state of residence, need not register afresh but rather transfer their registration to a new state, local government, registration area, and new polling unit.

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He explained that voters won’t need to register afresh, in cases of correction of data, as this would make them have double registration. Instead, they can go to INEC offices to correct such mistakes, adding that PVC issued by INEC doesn’t expire.

INEC offices in Anambra and Imo states were razed down by unknown gunmen, and INEC officers haven’t been spared from death in these regions.

Simon Ekpa, the chief controller of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has said in several tweets that an election can never be held in the southeast.

“Elections can never be held in Biafraland without fixing a date for a referendum,” Ekpa said.

“Biafra people have resolved not to exchange their freedom with a fraudulent election. Those of you in Biafraland must be ready to defend our land against any election that is not a referendum by following instructions from us. For now, you must start saving for 2 weeks to sit at home,” Ekpa, said.

“The Biafra people can’t exchange our freedom over the presidential ambition of Peter Obi. Peter Obi should go & rest, keep whatever he has to offer & wait for Biafra. If he thinks we are joking, when the time comes, we will know what Biafra people actually want. No election is a task.” Ekpa said.

The general election is expected to hold in May 2023.