Festus Okoye Esq. National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee have revealed that the cleaning up of the register of voters using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is ongoing since the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on 31st July 2022.

He said the Commission informed Nigerians that out of the 2, 523,458 (Two million, five hundred and twenty-three thousand, four hundred and fifty-eight) fresh registrants that registered between 28th June 2021 and 14th January 2022, 1,126,359 (One million, one hundred and twenty-six thousand, three hundred and fifty-nine) records were found to be invalid and consequently delisted.

Okoye said the Automated Biometric Identification System ABIS for the period - 15th January to 31st July 2022 is almost completed.

He revealed that several double, multiple and ineligible registrants have also been detected and invalidated.

The Information and Voter Education Committee chairman said invalidated registrations include entries that fail to meet the Commission's business rules.

He warned that the commission takes the responsibility of a credible voter register seriously because a credible register is at the heart of electoral integrity.

As soon as the process is concluded, the Commission will provide the public with full information as usual.

Festus Okoye Esq hinted that valid registrants will be added to the existing national register of voters before publishing same nationwide for scrutiny, claims and objections by citizens as required by section 19 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022.

He further re-assured Nigerians that a thorough process is being undertaken to clean up the registration data and similarly, Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for all valid registrants will be available for collection by the end of October/early November as promised.