The City Boy Movement (CBM) has dismissed stories suggesting that its ongoing membership registration train is linked to or interferes with Nigeria’s electoral course of, insisting that the train is totally voluntary and separate from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) statutory voter registration.
The Movement stated its registration was strictly for constructing its membership database, strengthening its organisational buildings and coordinating actions, stressing that its membership kinds and playing cards may neither confer voting rights nor function substitutes for official INEC voter registration paperwork.
In an announcement by its Deputy Director-General, Media, Communication and Public Affairs, O’tega Ogra, CBM stated registration was open to current members and Nigerians prepared to hitch the organisation voluntarily.
It disclosed that people may register bodily or by its official web site, www.cbmnigeria.org.
The Movement burdened that its membership registration and INEC’s voter registration served totally different functions, noting that the electoral fee remained constitutionally answerable for registering eligible voters and sustaining the nationwide register of voters.
According to CBM, registration with the organisation doesn’t confer voting eligibility, amend anybody’s particulars in INEC’s register or change any requirement prescribed by the electoral fee.
It additionally defined that its membership kinds and playing cards weren’t electoral registration paperwork or substitutes for Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
“The existence of a membership register does not, by itself, establish interference with or manipulation of the electoral register,” the assertion stated.
CBM additional maintained that participation in its actions was totally voluntary, including that people remained free to say no membership, withdraw from the organisation or train unbiased political and electoral selections.
It stated no Nigerian was being coerced or compelled to register with the Movement, insisting that it neither impersonated INEC nor misrepresented the aim of its registration train.
The organisation additionally rejected ideas that its actions interfered with the electoral rights of Nigerians, sustaining that its operations had been performed throughout the framework of relevant legal guidelines.
On considerations surrounding the gathering of private data throughout registration, CBM stated defending members’ information remained an essential obligation of the organisation.
It assured Nigerians that private data collected in the course of the train can be processed pretty, lawfully and transparently, with acceptable safeguards towards unauthorised entry, use or disclosure.
The Movement added that members of the general public collaborating within the train would obtain data from its officers concerning how their private information had been processed and their relevant privateness rights.
It additionally maintained that any consent required underneath the legislation can be freely given, particular and knowledgeable.
CBM stated it welcomed respectable enquiries, lawful criticism and evidence-based scrutiny of its actions, urging anybody with particular considerations or proof of misconduct to report by its verified official communication channels.
It pledged to assessment complaints pretty and cooperate with lawful investigations whereas respecting the rights of complainants and people towards whom allegations is perhaps made.
