Extend continuous voter registration by 3 months, group urges INEC

The Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in Onitsha, Anambra, has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise by three months.

This is contained in a statement jointly signed by the CLO Chairman, Mr Vincent Ezekwueme, and the Secretary, Mr Chidi Mbah, made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Onitsha.

The group urged INEC to extend the exercise in view of the large numbers of prospective registrants, especially in the South – East, that were yet to be registered.

“It will be recalled that the continuous voter registration exercise will end on July 31.

”This is as nearly 40 per cent of eligible registrants may be disfranchised, if urgent steps were not taken to remedy and redeem the situation.

“In every democratic nation, the electoral umpire must give all citizens the opportunity to participate in the electoral processes.

“Most pathetic is the South – East where registration is more cumbersome, which was reflected in the recently released registration records of six geo political zones of the country,” it said.

The group said that the South – East still remained ”the least registered zone”.

It called on the relevant stakeholders to ”expedite actions and change the ugly narrative”.

”This is through mobilization and sensitization of citizens for adequate participation in the continuous voter registration,” the group said.