By Our Correspondent<\/p>\n
The South East Revival Group, (SERG), has warned that the January 16, 2027 date fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) for the Presidential and National Assembly elections could unintentionally lock out millions of voters, especially South-Easterners who travel home for Christmas.<\/p>\n
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Agu Chineme, SERG said the date falls too close to the New Year return period. <\/p>\n
This, it explained, could force voters registered in their home states to make a costly \u201cdouble journey\u201d \u2014 first for Christmas, then back to work, and again to vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not alleging a conspiracy against the South-East. Our concern is simple: will the election date promote or obstruct the constitutional right of eligible Nigerians to vote?\u201d the group stated, arguing that electoral timing must be practically accessible, not just legally valid.<\/p>\n
According to SERG, millions of Nigerians, particularly from the South-East, traditionally return to their ancestral homes in December before resuming work in January, noting that a second trip back to their polling units before January 16, would impose serious financial, logistical and security burdens amid rising transport costs.<\/p>\n
It, therefore, called on INEC to urgently conduct a Voter Mobility and Electoral Accessibility Impact Assessment, which should examine festive migration patterns, transport availability and costs, interstate security, accommodation, employment and school calendars, and the ability of voters to reach their polling units safely.<\/p>\n
Stressing that the demand is national, not ethnic, the group stated: \u201cEvery Nigerian voter deserves a realistic opportunity to vote safely and return home. Electoral accessibility must be treated as a national democratic priority.\u201d <\/p>\n
SERG also issued a direct message to South-East voters living outside their states of registration: \u201cGo home for Christmas, but do not go home at the expense of your vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a second trip will be too expensive or impossible, plan ahead. Where possible, remain where you are registered until after you vote,\u201d it advised.<\/p>\n
The group urged INEC to engage political parties, civil society organisations, transport unions, traditional rulers, employers and security agencies to develop a national voter-access strategy. <\/p>\n
It also demanded strengthened security along major interstate routes before and during the election.<\/p>\n
SERG listed nine actions for INEC, including early public education, monitoring of voter-mobility problems, employer flexibility, and remedial measures if credible barriers are found. <\/p>\n
It cautioned against ethnicising the debate, saying concerns about access should not be mistaken for attacks on INEC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent The South East Revival Group, (SERG), has warned that the January 16, 2027 date fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) for the Presidential and National Assembly elections could unintentionally lock out millions of voters, especially South-Easterners who travel home for Christmas. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17455,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17454\/revisions\/17455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}