The House of Representatives has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to clean up the Voters’ register by removing the names of those who are dead.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Mr Leke Abejide (ADC-Kogi) during plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion, Abejide alleged that the register was full of names of dead people.
He said that “the 2023 general elections revealed that names of people that were long dead were still in the voter’s register.
“Even the name of my deceased father who passed on long ago was still displayed on the board.
“Apart from dead voters, there are millions of fictitious voters who do not exist anywhere on this planet earth but have their names on INEC registered voters.”
“It is believed that this was a result of multiple registrations by Nigerians who had or have the intention of rigging elections.
“However, with the advent of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) these faceless individuals can no longer vote,” Abejide said.
Another member, Mr Ben (PDP-Delta) also alleged that palm kernel was used to thumbprint during registration and voting.
He claimed that such fictitious registrations contributed to the state of the voter register.
The lawmakers recommended that names of individuals who didn’t vote in two election cycles back to back should be deleted from the register, while they should be made to register again in future elections.
The lawmakers also resolved that INEC should develop a mechanism or software application, where families who lost their loved ones can report the demise of a particular Permanent Voter Card number so that it can be duly deleted from the Commission’s register, polling unit and ward.
In his ruling, Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase mandated the House Committee on Electoral Matters to ensure compliance.
VON