2023 Polls: INEC shifts June 30 deadline, extends voter registration exercise by 60 days

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has agreed to extend the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise by 60 days.

Recall that the election umpire’s initial deadline for voters’ registration was at the end of June 2022.

Confirming the development while briefing the House, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Aishatu Jibril Dukku said the committee’s efforts to ensure the implementation of a House resolution reached the Commission last week were approved.

“The Committee held a meeting with INEC yesterday (Tuesday) and they agreed to extend the CVR, all our resolutions were approved,” Dukku told members of the House at plenary on Wednesday.

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday stopped from ending voter registration on 30 June 2022.

Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of Court 10 granted an order of interim injunction following the hearing of an argument on motion exparte by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

SERAP and 185 concerned Nigerians had filed the lawsuit against INEC asking 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 House of Representatives last Wednesday urged INEC to extend the deadline for continuous voter registration by an extra 60 days from June 30, 2022, to enable more Nigerians to register.

The House also called on the Commission to deploy additional staff and voter registration machines across the country to meet the objective.

The chairman, House Committee on media and publicity, Benjamin Kalu, through a motion, had noted that the ongoing CVR by INEC was scheduled to end on June 30 ahead of the 2023 general elections.