INEC won’t extend voter registration again, official says

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ruled out the chances of further extension of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

Ken Okeagu, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States, said this at a news briefing in Abakaliki on Wednesday.

Mr Okeagu, who was on a one-day monitoring visit to Ebonyi, said his assignment was to appraise the exercise in the state.

He said that he had visited the commission’s Local Government Area Offices to assess the progress so far made in the exercise.

He expressed satisfaction with the turnout of prospective registrants.

Mr Okeagu commended INEC in Ebonyi for the arrangements put in place to ensure smooth exercise in the state.

He said that the commission would consider the deployment of additional voter enrollment machines to address the surge at the registration centres.

He, however, dismissed the possibility of further extension of the exercise, which is billed to end on July 31.

“I’m quite impressed. The arrangement is good and people are turning out.

“So far, we don’t have challenges other than the number of people that have been coming out to register.

“I have gone round some of the centres and we are discussing how to take care of the surge.

“Some of the arrangements are going to be internal and we are looking basically at getting more machines to attend to people.

“We are not going to extend again.

“We have done it once for one month and we are not going to extend it again.

“Those who have yet to register should go and get registered.

“The exercise will end on July 31 and we will continue after the 2023 general elections,” Mr Okeagu said. 

(NAN)