Voter registration won’t end on June 30 – INEC Chairman

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR), which was initially scheduled to end on June 30, 2022.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the commission, announced a continuation of the exercise during the Youth Vote Count concert at the Old Parade Ground, Abuja, on Saturday.

Yakubu said “The youth want to know when the registration will end. I want to assure you on behalf of the commission that the registration won’t end on June 30 for as along as we have you people trying to register, we will continue to register you.

A Federal High Court in Abuja had stopped INEC from ending the ongoing voter registration exercise.

The court presided by Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon on Monday granted an order of interim injunction restraining INEC from implementing its June 30 deadline.

The court granted the order after hearing an ex parte motion by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 185 concerned Nigerians.

SERAP and the other plaintiffs had moved to restrain INEC from stopping the voter registration exercise after the Commission extended the deadline for the conduct of primaries by political parties by six days.

In the suit FHC/L/CS/1034/2022 which was filed against INEC at the Federal High Court, Lagos and transferred to Abuja, SERAP asked the court to declare the voter registration deadline as illegal and unconstitutional.

The group asked the court to “declare unconstitutional, illegal, and incompatible with international standards the failure of the electoral body to extend the deadline for voter registration to allow eligible Nigerians to exercise their rights”.