INEC: We’ve not released voter register for Rivers LG election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has not officially released the voter register to the Rivers state Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).

The local government election in the state is scheduled for October 5.

On September 30, the federal high court in Abuja has barred INEC from releasing the 2023 voter register to the RSIEC.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), in an originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/987/2024, had argued that the RSIEC was yet to meet the conditions for the conduct of the LG elections.

But earlier on September 26, Adolphus Enebeli, chair of the state electoral commission, reportedly said RSIEC had received the voter register from INEC prior to any legal issues arising.

According to Punch, speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Johnson Sinikiem, the state resident electoral commission (REC), said though RSIEC had requested the register, INEC had not handed over the document to electoral body.

“The tradition of the commission is that before an election for state at the local government, the only responsibility that we have is to give them voters register because we are empowered to maintain and keep voters register for the country,” he said.

“However, to make it very clear, the RSIEC has written to us about two times for release of the register, but we have not released it.

“We received. from our headquarters, an order from a federal high court restraining INEC from releasing the registers.

“So until now, we have not officially handed over the Rivers state voters register to RSIEC, we have not! The ICT department housed the voter register.

“And the voter register is in a soft copy and it is in two ways. Either we give it to them in soft copy, we photocopy it both black and white and colour then we stamp certified true copy.

“But we have not given them. There is no register in our office that will show that we have handed over such documents to them. But they have written.”