…Swears-in 9 RECs
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday announced the registration of a new political party, the African People’s Party (APP), after three years of scrutinizing its application, to bring the total number of registered political parties in Nigeria to 46.
Chairman of the Election Management Board (EMB), Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, who made the disclosure during the swearing-in ceremony of nine new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), also revealed that over 2,092,434 electorates have registered in the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
The names of the RECs sworn-in yesterday include; Mrs Asmau Sani Maikudi, Sam Olugbadebo Olumekun, Prof Riskuwa A Shehu, Barr Kissimmee Gana Geidam, Jubrin Ibrahim Zarewa, Abdulganiyu Olayinka Raji, Prof Samuel Egwu, Barr Mike A Igini, Mallam Sadiq A Musa.
In his keynote address, Prof Yakubu said: “The Commission has, by order of court, on Tuesday issued Certificate of Registration to the African People’s Party (APP) which originally applied for registration as a political party three years ago in 2014. With this development, the number of political parties in Nigeria now stands at 46.”
Equally, giving update on the ongoing nationwide CVR, the INEC boss told the new RECs that: “As you are aware, the Commission has embarked upon the continuous voter registration exercise nationwide. For the first time in the history of the Commission, citizens who have attained the age of 18 years and those who could not register before the last general election now have the opportunity to do so on a continuous basis as envisaged by the Electoral Act.
“The exercise is conducted at the Local Government level on quarterly basis. At the end of the first quarter of the exercise, some 1,810,153 citizens were registered. The exercise is now in the second week of the second quarter and already some 282,281 citizens have been registered, making a total of 2,092,434 new registrants so far.
“In Anambra State, in particular, the registration has been devolved to Ward level in view of the forthcoming governorship election, consistent with the commission’s practice.
“As part of the commission’s continuing improvement of the electoral process, we have introduced a new innovation in voter registration in Anambra State which will, in due course, be extended nationwide, using our newly acquired Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDCMs). Data is now collected on Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) categorised by gender and type of disability.