The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has responded to worries expressed by certain Nigerians regarding a possible voter registration database breach.
the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) had provided journalists with copies of national voter records that had ambiguous names and other inconsistent biographical data.
Following this, Nigerians expressed their displeasure with past apparent discrepancies in the commission’s functioning via a trend on Twitter.
They subsequently reiterated their intention to visit #OccupyINEC offices around the country on September 27 to air their complaints.
In a statement issued nearly 48 hours after concerns about voters’ identities began to gain traction, INEC criticized the CUPP for going public with its results rather than asking the commission for clarification.
Festus Okoye, INEC’s spokesperson, said in a statement on Thursday that the organization was still purging its system following the suspension of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in July.
The final voter registration will not be revealed until the commission has finished the cleaning process, he noted, at which point anyone may file concerns.
Shortly after releasing the statement, Mr. Okoye claimed that in addition to the identification of numerous registrants, the commission also engaged in an adjudication in an interview with Channels Television’s “Politics Today” show.
He asserts that the adjudication procedure is intended to deal with issues where names in the system do not match passport photos and gender.
However, Mr. Okoye was unable to explain how dubious names ended up on the voter list in the first place or how the commission plans to prevent it from happening again
