Groups Raise the Alarm over Alleged 84,000 Underage Registered Voters in Plateau

Alex Enumah in Abuja

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) yesterday raised the alarm over the number of underage voters contained in the list of registered voters in Plateau State.

The group at a press briefing in Abuja, also expressed worry over multiple registrations in five out of the 17 Local Government Areas in the state.

The group under the aegis of “Saving Our Votes” therefore called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), “to clean up the voters’ register in Plateau State and in Nigeria as a whole.”

They also called on INEC to ensure the investigation and subsequent prosecution of all those behind the underage registration.

 Lead Trustee, Intercontinental Leadership Initiative, Prince Stafford Bisong, said the group, following INEC’s publication of voters’ register had embarked on a, “Claim and Objections” exercise to the 17 LGAs in Plateau State on November 23, 2022, “to see, observe and discover for ourselves the state of affairs and level of preparation of INEC to deliver a credible election in 2023.”

 Bisong added that the exercise was predicated on their belief that ” the credibility of every election starts with the integrity of the voters’ register.

He alleged that their findings discovered that, “the voters register is replete with massive underage persons including persons that are below five years old,” adding that the figure which was, ” about 84,000″ were reported to the Electoral Officers (EOs) in the respective LGAs”.

The five LGAs where they claimed multiple registrations abound include Wase, Kanam, Kanke, Jos North and Sharabutu in Riyom.

The group also said it observed that the INEC form EC 3 which is directly connected to the ground of objection to inclusion of names in a register of voters, “has no provision for objections based on double or multiple registration whereas the online version of the self-same form which deals with the very issue contains such.”

Bisong said their observations have been submitted to the affected LGAs while a letter to that effect has been written to INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu for necessary action.

INEC in line with the new Electoral Act, 2022 had on November 13, published the Voters’ Register in the LGAs and political Wards for public scrutiny.