How INEC Tainted & Sectionalized Nigeria’s National Register Of Voters Part 2

By INTERSOCIETY
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(Democracy & Civil Liberties, Onitsha Nigeria, 16th February 2015)-On 10th September 2014, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega addressed a world press conference in Abuja, Nigeria to defend his Commission's controversial creation of additional 30, 027 polling units (PUs) for the country's electoral landscape. Controversies that trailed the botched exercise were similar to those trailing the Commission's handling of PVCs distribution across the country particularly as they concern lopsidedness and ethno-religious influences. Prof Attahiru Jega and his INEC had in the botched exercise magisterially and lopsidedly allocated over 21,000 to the North, leaving only 8,000 plus for the South leading to fierce protests by Nigerians of good will and conscience, which resulted to its official cancellation by the Commission. Among leading rights groups that opposed it was the leadership of Intersociety.

Further, on 26th September 2014, the Secretariat of our organization got four parcels from the Chairman of INEC via DHL Courier Services. The parcel contained a 19-page text of the referenced INEC Chairman's press conference titled; “Why, And How INEC Is Creating New Polling Units”, dated 10th September 2014. In the second paragraph of page seven of the text titled: “Why Did INEC Adopt the Post-AFIS register of voters and not the Post- Business Rule register of voters as the baseline for calculating the number of PUs?” , INEC said as follows: “ At the end of the general registration of voters in 2011, the Commission announced that the data of 73.5million eligible voters had been captured-warts and all; that is, including the records of multiple (Emphasis: not “ghost”) registrants. At the conclusion of data de-duplication with the Automated Fingerprint Identification Software (AFIS), by which cases of multiple registrations were eliminated, the figure came down to 70, 383, 427 registered voters. These are genuine, non-multiple and identifiable registrants”.

The foregoing has grossly contradicted and rubbished recent reasons or excuses given to Nigerians and international watchers by INEC to the effect that the November/December 2014 deletion of 3, 796, 767 registered voters from the National Register of Voters was a Post-AFIS exercise done in 2011. Contrary to this as incontrovertibly revealed by the foregoing, the exercise took place within last two months of November and December 2014; for reasons not clearly stated by the Commission till date.

Statistical Revelations & Findings: The figures as represented below in each State and the FCT as well as the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria statistically show the total number of Post-AFIS registered voters for 2014 (70, 383, 427) and the number of RVs released by INEC in early January 2015 to vote in the 2015 General Polls (68, 833, 476). The figures include the number of registered voters deleted un-announced by INEC in November/December 2014 in the affected States and geopolitical zones as well as the number of newly registered voters captured and added by the Commission in the National Register of Voters in the affected States and geopolitical zones.

A. Northwest Geopolitical Zone
Block Post-AFIS TVs for 2014=70, 383, 427 (TVs for 2015 Polls=68, 833, 476)

States Post-AFIS Registered Voters (RVs) Of 2014 2015 RVs Deleted Added

1. Kano 4, 751, 818 4, 975, 701 - 233, 883

2. Kaduna 3, 743, 815 3, 407, 222 536, 543 -

3. Katsina 2, 928, 046 2, 827, 943 100, 103 -

4. Jigawa 1, 817, 087 1, 831, 276 - 14, 181

5. Sokoto 2, 113, 698 1, 611, 929 501, 769 -

6. Kebbi 1, 459, 736 1, 470, 648 - 10,905

7. Zamfara 1, 802, 301 1, 495, 717 306, 584 -

(Source: INEC September 2014) (Source: INEC January 2015)

Northwest:
Total TVs for 2014=18, 618, 499
Total TVs for 2015 Polls=17, 620, 472
Total Deleted=1, 444, 999
Total Added= 248, 969
B. Northeast Geopolitical Zone
States Post-AFIS Registered Voters (RVs) Of 2014 2015 RVs Deleted Added

8. Borno 2, 570, 349 1, 934, 079 636, 270 -

9. Bauchi 2, 502, 609 2, 054, 125 448, 484 -

10. Adamawa 1, 682, 907 1, 559, 012 123, 895 -

11. Taraba 1, 279, 394 1, 340, 652 - 61,268

12. Yobe 1, 203, 324 1, 099, 970 103, 354 -

13. Gombe 1, 208, 927 1, 120, 023 88, 904 -

(Source: INEC September 2014) (Source: INEC January 2015)

Northeast:
Total TVs for 2014=10, 572, 968
Total TVs for 2015 Polls=9, 767, 968
Total Deleted=868, 139
Total Added= 62, 362
C. North-central Geopolitical Zone
States Post-AFIS Registered Voters (RVs) Of 2014 2015 RVs Deleted Added

14. Benue 2, 340, 718 2, 015, 452 352, 266 -

15. Niger 2, 427, 081 2, 014, 317 412, 764 -

16. Plateau 2, 082, 725 2, 001, 825 80, 900

17. Kogi 1, 305, 533 1, 350, 533 - 45, 300

18. Nasarawa 1, 291, 876 1, 242, 667 49, 209 -

19. Kwara 1, 125, 035 1, 142, 267 - 17, 232

(Source: INEC September 2014) (Source: INEC January 2015)

North-central:
Total TVs for 2014=10, 572, 968
Total TVs for 2015 Polls =9, 767, 362
Total Deleted =868, 139
Total Added=62, 532
D. Southwest Geopolitical Zone
States Post-AFIS Registered Voters (RVs) Of 2014 2015 RVs Deleted Added

20. Lagos 5, 426, 391 5, 905, 852 - 479, 461

21. Oyo 2, 487, 132 2, 415, 566 71, 566 -

22. Ogun 1, 796, 024 1, 829, 534 - 33, 510

23. Osun 1, 318, 120 1, 407, 107 - 88, 987

24. Ondo 1, 472, 237 1, 524, 665 - 52, 428

25. Ekiti 688, 950 732, 021 - 43, 071

(Source: INEC September 2014) (Source: INEC January 2015)

Southwest:
Total TVs for 2014=13, 193, 854
Total TVs for 2015 Polls=13, 814, 735
Total Deleted=71, 566
Total Added=697, 457 States
E. South-south Geopolitical Zone
States Post-AFIS Registered Voters (RVs) Of 2014 2015 RVs Deleted Added

26. Rivers 2, 466, 977 2, 537, 590 - 70, 631

27. Edo 1, 593, 488 1, 779, 738 - 186, 250

28. A. Ibom 1, 621, 798 1, 680, 759 - 58, 961

29. Delta 2, 044, 372 2, 275, 264 - 230, 892

30. C/River 1, 169, 469 1, 175, 623 - 6, 154

31. Bayelsa 590, 679 610, 373 - 19, 694

(Source: INEC September 2014) (Source: INEC January 2015)

South-South:
Total TVs for 2014=9, 486, 783
Total TVs for 2015 Polls=10, 059, 347
Total Deleted=Zero
Total Added=572, 582
F. Southeast Geopolitical Zone
States Post-AFIS Registered Voters (RVs) Of 2014 2015 RVs Deleted Added

32. Anambra 1, 784, 536 1, 963, 173 - 178, 637

33. Imo 1, 672, 666 1, 803, 030 - 130, 364

34. Enugu 1, 313, 128 1, 429, 221 - 116, 093

35. Abia 1, 378, 844 1, 396, 162 - 8, 318

36. Ebonyi 1, 020, 011 1, 079, 273 - 54, 262

(Source: INEC September 2014) (Source: INEC January 2015)

Southeast:
Total TVs for 2014=7, 178, 185
Total TVs for 2015 Polls=7, 665, 859
Total Deleted=Zero
Total Added=487, 674
G. Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
Total TVs for 2014=892, 628
Total TVs for 2015 Polls= 881, 472
Total Deleted=11, 156
Total Added=Zero.
In the third part of this publication of ours, further analysis will be provided. This will include the geopolitical breakdown of the deleted registered voters figure of 3, 796, 767, randomly and magisterially deleted by INEC in November/December 2014; as well as the total figure of 2, 120, 502, which represents the total number of newly registered voters captured by INEC in 2014 during its continuous voters' registration exercises across the country. We will also revisit the State-by-State and geopolitical distribution of PVCs across the country, which INEC says is 45, 098, 876 as at 4th February 2015.

Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law

Emeka Umeagbalasi, B.Sc. (Hons.) Criminology & Security Studies

Board Chairman, International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law

+2348174090052(office)
Uzochukwu Oguejiofor, Esq., (LLB, BL), Head, Campaign & Publicity Department

Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., (LLB, BL), Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program

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