Online Pre-Registration No Be Big Deal – INEC Reply ADC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) don talk say no irregularity dey for their online pre-registration data for the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) wey dey happen across the country. Dem say the numbers no get anything “extraordinary” inside. The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, talk dis one for statement for Abuja. The response follow wetin the African Democratic Congress (ADC) talk as dem raise alarm about the figures. ADC, through their National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, describe the numbers wey come from Osun State as “suspicious” and say dem no follow historical voting pattern or population data. Abdullahi talk say nearly 400,000 new registrations for Osun inside just seven days pass all the new voters wey dem register for the past four years combined. E still point out say South West alone carry “extraordinary 67 per cent” of all the pre-registrations wey don happen across Nigeria. But Oyekanmi talk say the claim no true at all. E say high registration for Osun no be new thing. For the data wey INEC release, 1,379,342 people register for one week, and Osun lead with 393,269, followed by Lagos with 222,205, then FCT with 107,682. Oyekanmi even bring old records from 2021 CVR exercise to show say Osun don dey lead online registrations since. E remind say when dem launch the portal on June 28, 2021, 59,331 accounts dey created within 24 hours. By second week, July 12, 2021, 456,909 accounts dey active, and Osun lead with 154,893. For third week, 752,011 people don register and Osun still lead with 232,880.

By the eighth week on August 23, 2021, 2,215,832 people don register and Osun still dey number one with 365,412. For the 11th week on September 13, 2021, 2,953,094 don register and Osun still lead with 402,619. By April 18, 2022, total pre-registrations reach 8,271,647 and Osun still dey front with 708,782. Oyekanmi say if ADC check past records wey dey public, dem go see the truth. E also explain say after online registration, everybody must show face for INEC centre for biometric capture. E say INEC dey use ABIS (Automated Biometric Identification System) to detect and remove people wey register more than once. E talk say after all the process for 2019 election, dem add more than 14 million voters to the register, push am from almost 70 million to 84 million. The same thing happen for 2023, after 2021/2022 CVR, dem add 9.4 million new voters, making am 93.4 million in total. Oyekanmi say na INEC duty to make sure say only real people wey meet the requirement for 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2022 go register, no matter where dem come from. E beg people make dem no dey spread story based on assumption when INEC data full ground. Meanwhile, NAN report say Abdullahi still dey ask how Osun get 393,269 registrations in just one week, but only add 275,815 voters between 2019 and 2023. E talk say even during the 2022 political heat, Osun never get more than 823,124 votes. E wonder how South West get 848,359 pre-registrations 67% of national total while the whole South East get just 1,998. E add say Osun, Lagos and Ogun alone carry 54.2% of all registrations, but Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu, Abia and Adamawa combine only get 4,153 (0.2%), and North East just get 6.1%. Abdullahi say make INEC do full forensic audit of the data, say e be like technical wahala or dem manipulate the numbers. E also call on opposition parties and observer groups to join mouth ask INEC for proper explanation and accountability.