Double registration: INEC to prosecute offenders

AHEAD of the April 2011 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission has vowed to prosecute anybody involved in double registration during the recent voter registration exercise.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, who made this vow on Monday, argued that such a step would deter others.

Ikoiwak spoke in Port Harcourt at the opening of a two-day seminar for political reporters, organised by the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists.

He said that the commission would soon publish the names of those involved in double registration, maintaining that electoral malpractices could pose great danger to free and fair elections in the country.

He stressed that those involved in double registration would not have their names on the voter register, explaining that the aim was to ensure free and fair elections.

“INEC will match fingerprints with photographs of the registered voters, local government by local government in each state and later state by state, to detect double registration throughout the country.

“The exercise may take sometime, but it will be done. When INEC is through with sorting out of persons with double registration, Nigeria’s prisons may not be able to contain them, but this will serve as deterrent to others.

“The tension being generated by the April elections is real. The politicians in the 63 political parties in Nigeria must focus on issues. The media must be clean and shun corruption in order to ensure credible elections. There cannot be free and fair elections without responsible media,” Ikoiwak stated.

He expressed worry that most political parties submitted fake addresses to INEC because they did not have any office or secretariat.

Ikoiwak said that the commission would soon begin to address the issue with a view to bringing those involved in the act to book.

Earlier, while declaring open the seminar, which has the theme “The Media and the 2011 Elections: Issues and Challenges,” the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, described the administration in the state as transparent, saying, “our books are open.”