The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday declared that it would not hesitate to punish anyone who registers more than once in the forthcoming nationwide continuous registration exercise, as this is one sure way to curb issues of electoral malpractices in the country.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom, Dr. Gabriel Ada, while warning Nigerians during a meeting with political parties and other stakeholders held in Uyo, the Akwa-Ibom State capital, said the commission would no longer take it kindly with anyone caught registering more than once.
He confirmed that during the last exercise, thousands of people were discovered to have registered more than once but they escaped prosecution. However, he warned that this time, the rhythm has changed.
“It is my wish to assure Nigerians that INEC is full ready to issue permanent voter’s card to all registered voters in the country before the end of the year,” Ada said.
“I’ll like to reiterate our resolve to enforce compliance to the Electoral Act that no person will be allowed to vote without a permanent voter’s card. It is the desire of INEC to improve on the successes recorded in the 2011 general elections which was adjudged free, fair and credible.”
Stressing that the exercise was to give an opportunity to those who just turned 18 years old to exercise their electoral rights, he used the opportunity to brief all political parties in the state on the new guidelines and code of conduct and update the parties’ knowledge on the unfolding electoral activities of the commission.
He said for the exercise, INEC has purchased 80, 000 card readers to indicate when the accreditation started, the total number of persons accredited and vote collated at each polling units.
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