JUST IN: SERAP Asks INEC To Probe Officials Who Collected Bribe For PVC Registration

Legal and advocacy organization, the Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to probe its officials who allegedly took bribe from Nigerians during the Continuous Voter Registration exercise which closed on July 31.

SERAP tweeted on Saturday that report of such development should be investigated and prosecuted if any official is found wanting.

“BREAKING: Voter registration: INEC must promptly and transparently probe reports that its officials took bribes before PVC registration in several centres across the country. Those involved must be named, and brought to justice without delay,” it tweeted.

One of the position of the electoral umpire is zero tolerance for corruption in the electoral process.

But YIAGA Africa had in a report on June 11 observed bribery of INEC officials as one of the concerns of the voter registration exercise.

“The main challenges observed by Yiaga Africa include malfunctioning of the Voter Enrollment Device (IVED), inadequate registration devices, capacity deficits on the part of INEC registration officials, inconsistencies in the decentralization of the CVR in some states, low public awareness of the schedule and locations for the rotational CVR and lastly, extortion and bribery of registration officials,” YIAGA stated on its website.