Double Registration To Attract One Year Jail Term In Amended Electoral Bill

Any voter who engages in double registration risks one-year jail term, payment of N100, 000 or both. This is according to the newly passed 2010 Electoral Act (amended) Bill 2022 currently awaiting the assent of President Muhammadu, Buhari.

A clean copy of the bill obtained yesterday, however, reiterated its provisions for voters to transfer registration details from one place to another.

The proposed legislation, in Section 12 (1), listed the criteria that qualified a person to be a voter in Nigeria.

It stated, “A person shall be qualified to be registered as a voter if such a person is a citizen of Nigeria, has attained the age of 18 years, and is ordinarily resident, works in, originates from the local government area, council or ward covered by the registration centre.”

It added that the person must “present himself to the registration officers of the commission for registration as a voter and should not be subject to any legal incapacity to vote under any law, rule or regulations in Nigeria.”

Section 12 (2) warned, “A person must not register in more than one registration centre or register more than once in the same registration centre.

“A person, who contravenes subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not more than N100, 000 or imprisonment for a term not more than one year or both.

“A person, who before the election is resident in a constituency other than the one in which he or she was registered, may apply to the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the state, where he or she is currently resident for his or her name to be entered on the transferred voter list for the constituency.”

It further explained that an application under subsection (1) shall be accompanied by a copy of the applicant’s voter’s card and shall be made not later than 90 days before the date of an election in the constituency, where the applicant is resident.

The amended bill, transmitted to Buhari penultimate week, is still awaiting presidential assent.