Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri
The Resident Electoral Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Borno State, Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed Magaji, has said that 674,514 voters were registered with new registrations of 114,012 voters last month. The Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise commenced in the state; from April, 2017 to August 31, 2018 with 183 unclaimed Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) at the commission’s Headquarters. Magaji disclosed this on Friday, while briefing journalists on preparedness of commission conduct a free and fair and elections; at Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) press centre, Maiduguri. He said the cumulative registered voters, include “new registrations, transfers and replacements of PVCs,” caused by the nine-year Boko Haram insurgency that displaced many legible voters from their council areas. His words: “Out of the 560, 503 registered voters; the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) has the highest number of 15,082, while Dikwa council had the lowest of 465 registered voters in the state.” “This commission has 70,000 old unclaimed PVCs that were yet to be collected. We have 113 unclaimed PVCs out the voters that registered in 2017. The ongoing CVR exercise had closed on Friday, August 31.” He attributed low levels of registrations to Boko Haram insurgency. He explained that two councils of Marte and Abadam; are still insecure for both the commission and residents for registration exercise. According to him, the collection of PVCs will continue, until few days to the 2019 general elections. He noted that yesterday’s closure of registrations was to enable the commission print the PVC cards for collection by voters. He appealed to the electorates to collect their PVCs to enable them vote for candidates of their choice at polls.
