The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has debunked the reports making the rounds that about seven million Nigerians were stopped from completing their online pre-registration during the last nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

INEC, while describing the reports as “misleading”, stated that no Nigerians were deliberately denied the opportunity to complete their online pre-registration.

The commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, made this known via a statement issued on Monday.

Okoye stated that for the online pre-registration, 10,487,972 commenced the process, adding that at the deadline of the exercise, 3,444,378 Nigerians completed their pre-registration physically at the designated centres in line with INEC’s policy.

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“Some 7,043,594 applicants did not complete the registration. Again, the commission made the information public. This is what some people are now using to say that they were denied the opportunity when in reality they failed to either complete the online enrolment or appear physically at the designated centres to complete the process.

“A breakdown of the 7,043,594 incomplete online pre-registrations is as follows:

“4,161,775 citizens attempted but either did not complete online pre-registration or abandoned it and went for the physical registration instead.

“2,881,819 registrants completed the online pre-registration but did not show up to complete the physical Biometric Capture at designated centres before the deadline.

“Therefore, it is clear that no Nigerians were deliberately denied the opportunity to complete their online pre-registration.

“We appeal citizens to always adhere to timelines as against the endless agitation for eleventh-hour extension of set deadlines,” the INEC National Commissioner noted.

The Star