The Centre for Human and Social-economic Rights (CHSR) says it is illegal for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delete inactive voters from its register.
The National President, CHSR, Mr Alex Omotehinse, said this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
Omotehinse said the house order was against the principle of the fundamental human rights.
“We are 100 per cent opposed to the position of the National Assembly on that. Average Nigerians who are qualified to vote and be voted for and registered with INEC deserve the right either to vote or not to vote.
“In fact, by virtue of the quality of leadership and present situation in the country, there are no motivations to vote. Nothing motivates Nigerians to go and vote.
“We can see in the last elections where people went out to vote in the first election on Feb. 25 but were discourage in the second election on March 18 due to threats and violence,” he said.
According to him, so many circumstances can be responsible for people registering for election and not voting, hence it is not within the purview of the National Assembly to delist them from the voters’ register.
Omotehinse said that Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) that INEC issued to duly qualified voters was not only meant for election, but served other functions like national identification symbol.
He said that the National Assembly must prioritise essential matters that affected life and well-being as well as security of the people rather than non-essentials.
“So, we want the National Assembly to be more concerned about their oversight functions rather than looking for petty issues to deal with.
“If our representatives have represented the people genuinely and votes count during elections, nobody will tell others to go and vote. People will be interested in voting and troop out in choosing leadership of their choice,” he said.
He called on the National Assembly to come up with a law that would render elective positions unattractive, so the nation could move forward and compete favourably with her counterparts in the continent and the globe.
The House of Representatives had on Thursday asked INEC to delete voters that failed to vote in two election cycles from the voters’ register.
The House said this following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by Rep. Leke Abejide (ADC- Kogi) at plenary.
The lawmakers resolved that whoever did not vote in the two election cycles held on Feb. 25 and March 18 back to back be deleted from INEC register as non-existing human beings.
They resolved that INEC should develop a mechanism or software application where families who lost their loved ones can report the demise of a particular PVC number.
They said that such PVCs would be duly deleted from INEC register, Polling unit, and Ward.(NAN)
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