INEC

AHEAD OF 2027, INEC RESUMES CONTINUOUS VOTER REGISTRATION AUGUST 18

•••As A'Ibom New REC Distances Self from Partisanship, Favouritism

By Precious Ukeje – Explicit News Magazine

Mr. Effanga, A'Ibom REC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its arrangements to resume the Continuous Voter Registration on August 18, 2025, ahead of the 2027 general elections.

While the online processes will commence earlier on the said date, the walk-in procedures will consequently follow August 25, 2025.

This comes as the new Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Obo Effanga, distances himself from all speculations of partisanship.

Both disclosures were made recently during an interactive session with pressmen at the Akwa Ibom State office of INEC, where Effanga reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to ensuring democratic progress and processes in Nigeria.

The new REC, a lawyer who assumed duty in the state earlier in June, explained that the pre-registration processes could be done online, while the capturing of photographs and fingerprints would require registrants to walk into any of the INEC offices across all local government areas. These, he noted, are required for the completion of the registration process.

Further in his remark, he disclosed that other activities, including change of address, correction of misspelt names and dates of birth, and the transfer of polling units, could be done online upon the opening of the portal.

Moreover, the commission, during the interaction, warned against multiple registrations and urged members of the public to simply update their information on the portal in cases of missing voter’s cards. It added that its doors would be open for the distribution of uncollected Permanent Voter Cards to their owners.

“Multiple registrations,” it stressed, “are invalid and also a crime,” adding that efforts put into multiple registrations would amount to a waste of time and might lead to the denial of opportunity for someone else to be attended to.

Other issues addressed included eligibility, where the commission insisted that only Nigerians could register, and they must be at least 18 years of age at the time of registration.

Effanga also expressed his expectations of accurate reportage of electoral processes and the activities of INEC by the media, especially as any wrong information could be detrimental to the process.

“We have seen that in previous cycles of the electoral process, where wrong information is sent out, INEC has to respond and correct that, and people will still keep sharing it,” Mr Effanga explained, while also appealing to the media over the prolonged time of non-interaction post-2023 elections.

Quizzed about INEC’s process of eliminating non-registered ad-hoc staff, he said the commission had made efforts to ensure that only registered and trained staff participated in the conduct of elections, including the allotment of identification numbers, but might encounter some lapses with those who send others to stand in for them—situations that might slip through, especially among corps members.

On the issue of rising political activities presently seen across the country, the Akwa Ibom REC explained that no one could be stopped from disclosing their aspirations for an office, provided such did not contravene the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act, noting that doing so could result in preventing some people from expressing their democratic rights.

Noting that there are no candidates yet for any of the elections expected in 2027, he called for a practicable approach to the rules guiding electoral activities, especially given the influence of social media.

He said: “People will talk about their aspirations and I don’t think there’s anything wrong—democratically speaking, legally speaking, and constitutionally speaking—for people to express their interest in holding a political and elective position, even when it is not yet time for elections to start.

“We all know that politicians are in the business of contesting for a position. So, what’s the use of a political party if they will not be talking about why the members of the public should prefer them to another political party?” Mr Effanga questioned.

The REC also maintained that the commission had surmounted the technical issues encountered in the last election, assuring that this was evident in the elections conducted after the 2023 general elections.

He made it clear that the primary process of result collation remains manual and not electronic, explaining that the absence of a result on the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV) does not equate to the non-existence of such a result, as results are manually collated at every level.

Dismissing speculations of partisanship, Effanga, while noting that Akwa Ibom State is the fourth state he is serving as REC, insisted that he was in the state to conduct elections.

Additionally, he emphasised his professionalism and expertise, mentioning that he had not come to show preference to anybody. Having served in Edo, Rivers, and Bayelsa States previously, he stressed that no one, in any of those states, gave him instructions as to who should win an election.

“Elections are won and lost at the polling units. Anybody who wants to win an election should talk to the voters to come and vote for them at the polling units. Once the election has been concluded at the polling units, a winner has emerged,” he said.

The REC told pressmen that he had no power to influence anybody’s victory or failure in an election, adding that even though he is a registered voter, he could not vote in an election. 

He stressed that there are more losers than winners in every election, as only the person with the highest number of votes wins. This, he noted, is a development that has led to vote-buying by politicians.