We’ll Obey Court Order On CVR Extension — INEC

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Mahmood Yakubu has said the commission will obey the court order stopping the commission from ending the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration on June 30.

Yakubu said that the commission has a history of complying with court orders.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekamni, disclosed this at a briefing ahead of the Youth Vote Count Mega Music Concert on Saturday.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had issued an order stopping INEC from ending the ongoing voters’ registration exercise.

Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon in the court’s ruling granted an order of interim injunction following the hearing of an argument on motion ex-parte by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The electoral body had stated that the voters’ registration exercise would end on Thursday, June 30, to allow the commission to clean up its database ahead of the general election scheduled to take place in 2023.

Speaking at the briefing on Tuesday, the INEC chairman said: “The commission has a history of complying with the court order, that I can assure you. I understand from the court papers that the commission was asked to come on the 29th of this month to give the court and submit certain documents.

“We are going to do that but remember that once a matter is in court, it is subjudice to talk about it.”

The Youth Vote Count Mega Music Concert is an event organised by INEC in partnership with Yiaga Africa and funded by the European Union.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for INECThe Independent National Electoral Commission said the commission deployed 150 staff to the Old Parade Ground in Abuja, venue of the Youth Vote Count Mega Music Concert.

Bello said the 150 staff of the commission will man several registration machines also deployed to the arena to capture data and biometrics of all eligible voters for the concert.

He said the commission was prepared to ensure that all eligible voters who make it to the Mega Music concert are registered for the processing of their Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC).

Also speaking, Program Manager at EU, Olaolu Olawunmi said the Mega Music Concert is aimed at connecting young people to being more proactive to issues of governance.

Olawunmi said the concert is expected to help attain a shift in the culture of the young people and make politics and governance attractive to the demographic.

Noting that a similar event was held at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, Olawunmi the EU was encouraging the youth to not only register for their PVCs but also ensure they collect the cards when they are ready and head to the poll to vote with it.

He said: “The European Union has been a strong, major partner of the Nigerian government, particularly since the return to democracy in 1999. And we have quite an array of programmes in our development cooperation portfolio, and this is one of our flagship programmes.

“The program is fully funded by the European Union but the good thing about it is that it is locally driven and we are trying to bring civically-cultured celebrities, influencers, and bloggers; bring them together to help us speak to young people on how to get their PVCs.”

The show, which kicked off on Monday, June 20 will end Saturday, June 25, with the Mega Music Concert featuring several celebrities.

Some of the celebrities expected at the concert on Saturday include Kizz Daniel, who will headline the show, MI, Teni the Entertainer, Tubaba, Falz, Patoranking, Mayorkun, Omawunmi and actors like Chioma Chukwuka, Mr Macaroni, KieKie.

Others are Waje, Patoranking, Skiibii, Ashake, Small Doctor, Falz and Bella Shmurda, Ufuoma McDermott, Chioma Akpotha, Uti Nwachukwu, Uche Jombo, Lasisi. Elenu, KieKie, Real Warri Pikin, and Omoni Oboli.