2023: Pat Utomi makes specific requests to INEC

The leader of the National Consultative Front (NCF) and Convener of the Big Tent, Professor Pat Utomi, on Tuesday, August 10, 2022, said the suspension of voter registration could lead to the disenfranchisement of many Nigerians.

What Pat Utomi wants: He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to resume voter registration until the end of October at least.

Professor Utomi made the comments while speaking at a World Press Conference in Lagos.

“We do not think it is proper to continue to disenfranchise Nigerians with this rush to cut off registration,” Professor Utomi said. “The law allows Nigerians to be able to register even until November. They should at least keep registration open until the end of October.

“We get calls from people in the Diaspora who are very upset about it, who are trying to petition even the US government, the UN, saying the Nigerian government through INEC is trying to disenfranchise Nigerians. So we would like INEC to save itself that embarrassment.”

Utomi's second request to INEC: Professor Utomi also asked INEC to make it mandatory for contestants to participate in open debates.

“We would like to make INEC insist that anyone who cannot participate in a debate should be disqualified from that election; especially at the presidential, gubernatorial and National Assembly levels,” he said.

“We should have open debates, and not one, not two, but multiple debates.”

Meanwhile: A group of Nigerians under the aegis of Peter Obi Support Network (POSN) has sued the INEC over its failure to comply with the constitutional provision that requires the commission to continue voter registration until at least 90 days to the general elections.

Obidients' argument: In a suit filed on the 'Obidients' behalf by Abuja law firm, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, SAN & Co., the Plaintiffs argue that INEC’s abrupt termination of the voter registration exercise would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters during the 2023 presidential election.

What Obidients want from INEC:

An order compelling INEC to reverse its earlier directive halting the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise across the country on July 31, 2022
To declare as ultra vires, the commission’s decision to put a timeline on the CVR exercise outside the timeline provided by the 2022 Electoral Act, as amended.