LAGOS State: Three days into registration, technical hitches persist Daniel Fayemi, Lagos
Three days into the ongoing voters’ registration exercise in the country, eligible voters have continued to be frustrated as the delay in registration has persisted.
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LAGOS State: Three days into registration, technical hitches persist Daniel Fayemi, Lagos
Three days into the ongoing voters’ registration exercise in the country, eligible voters have continued to be frustrated as the delay in registration has persisted.
The exercise, which kicked-off on Saturday, was marred by widespread hitches as the fingerprint capturing device was very slow and several people had to return to their homes in disappointment.
However in spite of promises by INEC to rectify the hitches by Monday (today), there have been reports of continued delay at the registration centers.
The electoral body has also played down the call in some quarters for an extension of the exercise saying it was too early for such talks as INEC is working to ensure that every ‘registerable’ Nigerian is registered.
“Already, the commission is addressing the technical challenges that have hampered fingerprint capture and thereby slowed down the voter registration procedure in some polling units across the country. The new measures being introduced will remarkably speed up the process of registering eligible voters.” INEC said
Also, some centers in the Lagos metropolis recorded smooth registration as some of the machines were reported to be working perfectly.
For instance, in Alimosho area of Lagos State, which is considered a haven of votes, anger, frustrations have continued to trail the exercise as very few machines have functioned.
State Deputy Governor, Princess Sarah Sosan, however appealed to the people to exercise patience.
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OSUN State: Anger in Osun over Senator Adeleke's attempt to register mercenaries
Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Isiaka Adeleke today (Monday), got a raw deal from the hands of angry voters in Osun State as they resisted his attempt to register some non-indigenes who were allegedly brought from unknown places to register as voters.
Adeleke is a PDP senator representing Osun West Senatorial district.
Trouble began when the Senator who hails from Ede town in Osun State, allegedly led some people who were recognised by indigenes as strangers to some of the registration centres for the purpose of registering them as voters.
This angered some of the residents who stood their ground that they would not allow the strangers to be registered in their community.
Efforts by security men attached to the lawmaker, who was a governor of the state, to harass the indigenes were met by resistance by the angry indigenes.
The senator was said to have moved from one registration unit to another hoping to ensure registration for the persons who were suspected to be mercenaries.
The Nigeria Politics Online gathered that this compelled leaders of the opposition parties in the area to mobilise their supporters to foil Adeleke’s attempt to register unknown persons in the Area.
Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria has called on the Resident Electoral Commissioner Osun State, Commissioner of Police and the Director of State Security Services to call Senator Isiaka Adeleke and his ilk to order to avoid an imminent breakdown of law and order in the state.
In a statement signed on behalf of the party by the Director of Research and Strategy Hon Sunday Akere, Osun ACN said it was wrong for Senator Adeleke to be going around registration units in both Ede North and Ede South in company of more than ten fully armed policemen and thugs insisting on registering mercenary voters ahead of the 2011 General Election.
“Information made available to our party indicates that Senator Adeleke imported five buses load of prostitutes from Shogunle area of Lagos since Friday 14th of January 2011 with intent of registering them as voters in the coming election. Additional information received by us informed us that the’ imported prostitutes’ are to be brought to AISU Polling Centre Unit 01, Ward 05, Ede South Local Government for the purpose of registering them as voters in the next election.
Around 10am this morning Senator Adeleke while not taking into cognisance his status as a former No. 1 citizen of the state went to the said polling unit in the company of his hordes of prostitutes harassing the villagers that insisted they will not allow non-natives to register.” ACN said.
The party also alleged that a lecturer at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology was also involved in the importation of mercenaries.
“Similar report was lodged with the police in Ejigbo on Saturday 15th January, 2011 about the PDP House of Assembly candidate in Ejigbo State Constituency Dr Joshua Aworemi who using his influence as a Lecturer at the LAUTECH was found to have imported students with the intent of registering as ‘Ecomog voters’. Three of the arrested students were detained at Ejigbo Police Station on Saturday evening.”
The party however called on the relevant authorities to call the Senator and the PDP to order to forestall the breakdown of law and order.
“Before situation gets out of hand, Senator Adeleke should be warned not to take the patience of the people for stupidity. We all cherish the peace prevailing in the state and we will not want anybody to set brothers within the same community against themselves.
Similar reports from Ife South, Isokan, Ola-Oluwa, Boluwaduro revealed attempts by the Peoples Democratic Party to manipulate the registration process in favour of their party. We therefore wish to appeal to all the agencies involved to sit right and call off the bluff and excesses of the PDP.” ACN added.
Source- http://www.nigeriapoliticsonline.com
DELTA State: Voters registration is on going Effurun-otor/Olomu Ward 1,2 in all most of the units visited although the finger print scanning machine is either too slow or its not responding properly. At the pace they are going, one begins to wonder if they can register every eligible voter before the end of the exercise. I really hope INEC ll come up with solutions to this delayed in the machines been experienced.
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