The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 12, 231 people have completed both on-line and physical registration during the first quarter of the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in Ogun.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ogun, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, stated this on Thursday at a press conference in Abeokuta while briefing newsmen on the 2021 first quarter nationwide CVR.

Agbaje stressed that 46,937 people completed the online pre-registration but only 12, 231 people actually followed up to complete the physical registration.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC commenced the CVR with an online pre-registration exercise on June 28 nationwide while the physical registration followed on July 26.

Agbaje, who expressed concern over the “low figure” of the state, compared to others in the South-West region, encouraged the residents to increase their participation. 

“I hereby call on eligible citizens of Ogun to seize the opportunity provided by the CVR to register as voters in order to be empowered to exercise their franchise or civic responsibility in 2023 general and future elections,” he said.

The REC also called on relevant stakeholders, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, political party leaders, youth and women group’s and the media to assist the agency in sensitising the people on the significance of the CVR to further boost the level of participation in the state.

Agbaje, who noted that the first quarter of the exercise had ended on Tuesday, explained that the second quarter of the CVR would commence on Oct. 4.

Agbaje added that the commission would display the register of the new voters captured during the ended quarter between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30 at the local government offices for claims and objections.

He explained that the measure had become necessary to enable the public assist the commission to identify ineligible registrants like foreigners and Nigerians less than 18 years who might be on the list.

“The general public should also use the opportunity to assist the commission to identify deceased persons and multiple registrants so that they can be removed during the exercise before merging the fresh register with the existing one,” he said.

He warned that anyone who violates any relevant section of the law during the exercise, particularly, by engaging in multiple registration would be identified and prosecuted accordingly.

He reminded eligible citizens that they could pre-register through the INEC online registration portal @https.//cvr.inecnigeria.org or https://cvr.inec.gov.ng before visiting any INEC local government office to complete the process physically.