SSG Appeals For Extension Of Voters Registration Exercise By Vincent Anikwushe THE Secretary to the Delta State Government (SSG), Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to extend the voter’s registration exercise due to end today for at least 21 days in order not to disenfranchise so many eligible voters in the 2015 general elections. The SSG made the call in an interview with Journalists at Ozoro during the monitoring of the voters’ registration exercise in Isoko North and Isoko South Local Government Areas of the state on Saturday. Comrade Macaulay, who was accompanied on the monitoring of the registration exercise by the Commissioner for Land, Surveys and Urban Development, Sir Patrick Ferife, Hon. Mike Ogwah and others, expressed displeasure over the slow pace and poor handling of the exercise. He said, with the large number of people who were yet to register at Ohwelogbo, Oleh, Ozoro, Emevor, Irri and other communities visited, the exercise was designed to fail. “You have been with us in the monitoring of the registration exercise in not less than seven communities. You can see that there is a common problem in all the communities. Having one registration centre in one Ward with about 13 units is grossly inadequate. The machines are not enough and the frequent break down of the machines is a major challenge. Again, there is no provision for lost grounds”, he lamented. He decried a situation where the maximum a machine could register in a day was 50 persons, pointing out that “in a Ward which is supposed to have a minimum of about 3000 to 5000 persons, at the end of the exercise, you will be having a registrable figure of less than 800 persons which means that from day one, the exercise was planned to fail”. His words, “The failure of this exercise is the beginning of the failure of the 2015 general elections. If the registration exercise which is the prelude of the 2015 general elections and which makes it possible for you to go and vote is a failure, then of course, you are beginning to tell us that we cannot have a credible election in 2015”. According to him, “there is no community that has registered more than 300 persons as at the fourth day of the exercise, so if at the end of the day nothing is done between now and Monday (today), the exercise is going to be abysmal failure”. “What INEC should be considering right away is the extension of the deadline for the exercise from Monday (today). At least, we need a minimum of 21 days to carry out a credible registration exercise”.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 06:17:40 +0000
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