Era of multiple voting over in Nigeria —INEC

Ahead of the 2015 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said, yesterday that the era of multiple registration and multiple voting was over in the country.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Bayelsa State, Mr. Edwin Nwatalari, spoke in Yenagoa at the state Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Press Week.
Speaking on Towards a Credible 2015 General Elections,   Nwatalari, who was represented by Mr. Victor Agbonwanaten, Deputy Director, Voters Education, Publicity, Gender and Civil Society Liaison, said the voters register was now electronic driven to guard against electoral fraud.
Residents of Sebiotimo street, Agege, checking for their Permanent Voters Cards at  ward 5, Agage Local Government in, Lagos state,  yesterday [08-11-14]. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

This, according to him, will enable the commission to easily subject the register to various electronic procedures and software, including the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System, AFIS, as well as a number of business rules to enhance the authenticity of the national voters register.
He said: “For the first time in the history of Nigeria’s electoral process, the commission, as part of its preparations has commenced the continuous voters registration. It is, therefore, fair to say that for the 2015 general elections, not only nearly as many as possible eligible voters will vote, there will be no fictitious names in the register.
“The 2015 general elections, to all intents and purposes, will witness the use of card readers in the process of accreditation of voters before they vote. This will be possible because of the type of voter register that we now have. Multiple registration and multiple voting will be a thing of the past.”
Though the REC identified inadequate security as a bane of previous elections in the country, he said that the commission, in 2011, facilitated the creation of the Inter-Agency Committee on Election Security, ICES.
He said: “The committee is now present at all levels and has continued to hold strategic meetings since 2011 with a view to stemming the spate of electoral violence before, during and after polls.”
Earlier in his address, Chairman, NUJ, Bayelsa State, Tarinyo Akono, called for non-violence 2015 polls and appealed to the political class and their supporters to eschew violence.