The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have finally agreed to extend the ongoing Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR) exercise by 60 days.
This comes after the commission faced backlash from organizations and members of the public about their decision to end the process. Initially, INEC had set the deadline for voters’ registration for 30th of June 2022.
Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives had urged INEC to extend the deadline to enable more Nigerians to register. Furthermore, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) as well as concerned Nigerians had filed a lawsuit against the electoral commission. In the suit, they asked the court to “declare unconstitutional, illegal, and incompatible with international standards the failure of the electoral body to extend the deadline for voter registration to allow eligible Nigerians to exercise their rights.”
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, had ruled to stop the electoral body from ending the exercise until all eligible voters had been registered.
READ MORE: Federal High Court Stops INEC From Ending Voter Registration
On Wednesday, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Aishatu Jibril Dukku, told members of the house during a plenary session that the Commission had agreed to extend the CVR for 60 more days.
“The Committee held a meeting with INEC yesterday (Tuesday) and they agreed to extend the CVR, all our resolutions were approved,” She said.
The House also called on the Commission to deploy additional staff and voter registration machines across the country to meet the objective.
