68.83 million registered to vote next month - Inec Boss, Attahiru Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said in
Abuja on Tuesday that it registered 68,833,476 voters for the
general elections in Feb. 2015
The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, announced this at a
news conference and presentation of voter registers to
leadership of political parties.
Jega said the commission arrived at the figure after removing
over four million voters that engaged in duplicate registration
from the 73.5 million registrants nationwide.
He said that the removal was done through the commission’s
AFIX and Business Rules for the printing of Permanent Voter
Cards (PVCs).
AFIX is software that allows the commission to indentify and
exclude any double registration from it data base.
He said the figure would be made available to the public on
the commission’s website in the next couple of days.
Jega added that the commission was ready to provide evidence
to any political parties in doubt about the figure and the
process used in the computation of the register.
He also said 14 candidates were duly nominated by political
parties for presidential election holding on Feb. 14.
"For senatorial elections, there are 739 candidates; and for the
House of Representatives elections, there are 1,780
candidates.’’
The chairman also disclosed that the commission had received
all funds required to conduct the general elections from
government.
He said the commission had taken delivery of additional PVCs
from the contractor, ``and we are positive that the commission
will have outstanding cards with us latest Jan. 28.’’
Jega said INEC would use card readers for the 2015 elections
as it had commenced the deployment of the received readers to
states.
"The commission has received more than 132,000 units of these
card readers.’’
He added that INEC was preparing to hold elections in all
states of the federation including the three North East states
experiencing insurgency.
He said the commission was yet to receive any formal
notification from the House of Representatives directing it to
allow people with Temporary Voter Cards for the 2015 general
elections.
"We will do everything possible to ensure that PVC is used for
the elections because of the technology involved as PVC will
help to eliminate fraudulent voting.’’
The Chairman, however, advised Nigerians against wrong
handling of PVC to avoid any damage to the data on the chip.
Jega said that the commission would be responsible for the
cost of production of the first PVC, but in the case of loss or
damage, the owner of the card would incur the cost of
replacement.
He said that although the card was durable, it could be
damaged if wrongly handled or exposed to unnecessary heat.
He explained that the card had 10 years life span and that the
commission hoped to continue using it until the country was
able to produce a national identification card that could replace
the PVC.
The National Chairman of the Interparty Advisory Council
(IPAC), Dr Yunusa Tanko, commended INEC for the
presentation of the register of voters.
He said it should be made available to all political parties.
Tanko condemned the attack on the offices, vehicles and
officers of some political parties in some states of the
federation.