INEC replies ADC, says Osun voter registration figure not unusual

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed claims by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that figures released in its first-week report on continuous voter registration (CVR) are “statistically implausible”.

On Monday, INEC said more than 1.3 million Nigerians completed their online voter pre-registration within just one week of opening the exercise.

According to commission’s report, Osun state recorded 393,269 pre-registrations in one week.

But a statement on Thursday by Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesperson of the ADC, said the numbers from Osun state alone defy both historical patterns and demographic realities.

Reacting in a statement signed by Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman, the commission said there is “nothing extraordinary” about the online pre-registration data.

“With regard to Osun State, the pattern is similar to what occurred in June 2021 when the commission launched the online pre-registration for the first time,” the statement reads.

Oyekanmi explained that when INEC first launched the online pre-registration in June 2021, Osun also led in the number of registrants.

He said within the first 24 hours, 59,331 accounts were created nationwide, adding that the second week, there were 456,909 active accounts, with Osun recording 154,893 pre-registrations.

He said the state maintained the lead through subsequent weeks, with over 708,000 registrations by April 2022.

INEC said a review of publicly available records from that exercise would have shown the ADC that Osun’s early lead is not unusual.

“Throughout the last CVR exercise, which lasted over four quarters, the commission paused after each quarter to display the preliminary voters’ register for claims and objections,” the statement reads.

“At the same time, we applied our robust Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) to detect and isolate double registrants.

”While it is not in the Commission’s place to develop conjectures on why any state has more registrants than others on our CVR portal, our duty as a Commission, which we take seriously, is to ensure that only real persons, who meet the criteria stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act 2022 are allowed to register.

”The Commission will continue to make information available to the public on the progress of the current online and in-person CVR.

“We appeal to all well-meaning citizens to be circumspect in going public with information based on sheer conjecture when they can rely on authentic and verifiable data available from our official repositories for both ongoing and historical record of our activities.”