LAGOS DECEMBER 13TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday said it has been able to weed out over four million multiple and fake names from the voters register.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Atahiru Jega, when he met with members of the Guild Of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), at the INEC electoral institute, Abuja.
Briefing the online media ?executive, on the preparation of the commission ahead of the 2015 general election, Jega said the commission was able to achieve the feat through credible biometric system.
According to him, “We got to a point where the voters registration was compromised. It was a terrible register full of discrepancies. We had all sorts of names. It became clear to us that if we needed to conduct a credible election we needed to start afresh”.
Jega explained that faced with the challenge the commission swung into action to produce a credible voters register.
He hinted that after the initial registration of eligible voters and in the process of consolidation of the over 70 million registered voters, the commission found out that there were over four million multiple registration and consequently weeded out the names from the register.
He noted that in the initial list of registration, fake and multiple names were included and hinted that as at today, the commission has a robust voters registration data that could guarantee a credible election in 2015.
Jega however assured all Nigerian?s that every eligible voter who was duly registered would be issued a permanent voters card before the February 2015 general election.
The INEC boss said “of all these cards we have produced, about 60 percent have been distributed,” and the remaining 40 percent would be distributed before the 2015 general election.
He emphasised that no clone card can be read by INEC machine and urged Nigerians not to entertain any fear of sabotage from the commission.
He said the commission since the 2011 general election has been able to improved the voters registration process and noted that “this is a significant improvement” in the nation’s electoral process.
“We will be able to do a much better election in 2015 considering the advance preparation the commission has made since 2011,” the INEC boss stated.
Jega hinted of the challenges of security in the country and urged the security agents to do more to ensure that “we are able to conduct a free and fair election in 2015?.
He maintained that “we are prepared to do election everywhere,”? provided their is adequate security coverage for INEC staff and those who will be voting.
The INEC boss appealed to politicians to respect the rules of the game, to be decorous and refrain from arming the youths to cause violence.
“Everybody must work together if really we want to make 2015 a free, fair and credible election” adding that “?we in INEC will do our best to ensure that things get better and play our roles and make 2015 general election better”.