The legitimate voters on Election Day are qualified registrants whose names are on the voters’ row. The legitimate voters are those that have attained the majority age of 18 years and do not suffer age disability and other disqualifying conditions. Fidelity to the constitution and the law presupposes that on no account must anyone including the political parties, candidates in an election, the electoral management body and other stakeholders in the electoral process manipulate or skew the voters’ register in such a way as to deliver predetermined outcomes. A fraudulent voters’ row anchored on strange names, unqualified registrants and those that suffer registration disability can only deliver predetermined and strange outcomes. Electoral democracy demands and envisages that that those that must exercise their democratic franchise are those that understand the process and the values of electoral democracy and have the capacity to make informed choices. Conscious, informed and rational choices can only be made by those that understand the electoral process, understand the demands of democracy; understand the programmes and policies of candidates and political parties; are able to decipher the real from the unreal and understands the truth as opposed to propaganda. Unfortunately, sometimes, democracy and the electoral process can deliver bizarre outcomes and those that are seen to be rational and can make informed choices make choices that are difficult to understand and explain. But having attained the age of 18 years, the law and the constitution ascribe maturity to those that are 18 years and above and ascribe the ability to make choices to them whether those choices are really informed or not. The Electoral Act, 2010(as amended) (designed to regulate the conduct of Federal, State and Area Council elections) has made elaborate provisions for the registration of persons qualified to vote. The framers of the 1999 Constitution and the designers of the Electoral Act built in safeguards that will ensure that only qualified Nigerian registrants are able to register. The designers of the Electoral Act understand the diversity of the country and took into consideration this diversity in the formulation of the registration procedures. The designers of the Electoral Act understand that society is dynamic and that population movement and other emergencies may affect registered voters requiring them to move from one place to the other. The designers of the Electoral Act know that some persons may decide to undermine the voters’ registration process and prescribed stiff punishment for such elements. Section 9 of the Electoral Act gives the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the exclusive right to compile, maintain, and update on a continuous basis, a National Register of Voters which shall include the names of all persons entitled to vote in any Federal, State or Local Government or Area Council elections. More importantly, the Electoral Act recognises the fact that Nigeria is a big country and that on a continuous basis, the youth of our country attains the age of 18 and are qualified to be registered and to vote in an election. The designers of the Electoral Act know and appreciate the fact that it will be unconstitutional and undemocratic to insist that those that attain the age of 18 years immediately after a general elections cycle must wait for four years before growing up as voters. The issue of continuous voters’ registration is more germane with the institutionalization of “off season” elections that have become a permanent feature of our electoral process. Election Petition Tribunals and the courts in the exercise of their constitutional, judicial and electoral duties and functions have more or less permanently rescheduled elections in some of the states of the federation. The states include Edo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti. The National and State Assemblies have recorded deaths and removals of members and the vacancies created in these states must be filled. On the basis of these, section 10 of the Electoral Act provides that there shall be continuous registration of all persons qualified to be registered as voters. Each applicant under the continuous voters’ registration system shall appear in person at the registration venue with any of the following documents, namely, birth or baptismal certificate; national passport, identity card or drivers licence; or any other document that will prove the identity, age and nationality of the applicant. Ordinarily, a person shall be qualified to be registered as a voter if such a person is a citizen of Nigeria; has attained the age of 18 years; is ordinarily resident, works in, originates from the local government/area council or ward covered by the registration centre; presents himself to the registration officers of the commission for registration as a voter; and is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote under any law, rule or regulation in force in Nigeria. Furthermore, no person is permitted to register in more than one registration centre and any person that registers in more than one registration centre commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N100, 000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both. The framers of the constitution recognise that Nigerians are entitled to freedom of movement and association. The movement of Nigerians from one ward, local government or state may be voluntary or involuntary. The movement from one place to another may be involuntary in the case of natural displacement caused by natural disasters or environmental factors. The movement of Nigerians may be due to conflict arising from ethnic, communal, pastoral and religious issues. The movement may be due to other factors not envisaged by the lawmakers. It is in this wise that registered voters can transfer their registration from one registration area to another. Hence, a person who before the election is resident in a constituency other than the one in which he was registered may apply to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the state where he is currently resident for his name to be entered on the Transferred Voters’ List for the constituency. The REC shall enter the person’s name in the Transferred Voters’ List if he is satisfied that the applicant is resident in a polling area in the constituency and is registered in another constituency. Thereafter, the electoral officer of the new constituency on the direction of the REC shall assign that person to a polling unit or a polling area in his constituency and indicate in the list the polling unit to which that person is assigned; issue the person with a new voter’s card and retrieves his previous voter’s card; and send a copy of the entry to the electoral officer of the constituency where the person whose name has been so entered was originally registered and upon receipt of this entry, the electoral officer shall delete the name from the voters’ register. It is not right and amounts to double registration and a criminal offence for a registered voter to throw away his/her Permanents Voter’s Card and queue for new registration simply because they moved from one registration area to another. Double registration may lead to the excision of the name of a double registrant from the voter’s register using improved technology that detects multiple registrants. The INEC through the RECs and the Electoral Officers in the various local governments must use the platform of the schools, the churches, the mosques, traditional and religious leaders, the labour movement, the civil society groups and other professional bodies to educate and enlighten the public on the clear provisions of the law relating to the registration of voters. Nigerians must not be allowed to lose their right to vote on account of legal and constitutional ignorance. It is well and fine if a person chooses not to register. It is well and fine if a person chooses not to vote. The question remains, why do certain persons and parties take special interest in manipulating and corrupting the voters’ register?]]>

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