THE Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate allegations of voter register manipulation across the country.
The National Director of Social Communications at the Secretariat, Mike Umoh, said the CSN is aware of credible allegations of manipulation of the electoral register in different parts of the country.
Umoh said this while speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, January 31.
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“We are aware of credible allegations of manipulating the electoral register in different parts of Nigeria. We implore INEC to investigate these allegations diligently and to ensure that to the extent that they are well-founded, anyone implicated is brought to account in a timely fashion.
“Furthermore, it has been discovered that multiple registrations happened alongside willful and incorrect entries of voters’ information; we implore the Commission to ensure that the necessary due diligence is observed in the accurate documentation and cleaning up of the voters’ register.”
He said this would engender transparency and ensure trust in the electoral process.
Umoh also urged INEC to ensure that all the bimodal voter automated systems (BVAS) machines work in all the 176,846 polling units on election days.
“We call on the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to eliminate the obstacles of high transaction costs associated with collecting the PVCs all over the country.
“In order to guarantee a level field of participation for all voters, INEC has a huge burden to guarantee that BVAS will work on election day in all the 176,846 polling units across the country, as well as the efficient electronic transmission of results from the polling units. This will engender transparency and ensure trust in the electoral process,” Umoh said.
He added that INEC should ensure efficient transmission of results.
A reporter with the ICIR
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