Commission, last Tuesday evening,
discovered four voter registration centres
deep inside the Nziko forest at Nteje in
Anambra State. The deputy governor of
Anambra State, Emeka Sibeudu and the
state resident electoral commissioner,
Chukwuemeka Onukogu, led the team that
made the discovery based on security
reports made available to the governor,
Peter Obi.
The REC said it was painful to discover four
centres serving no one in the middle of a
thick forest when there were not enough
machines for potential voters in places like
Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi, Adazi, and Agulu.
The centres, located within the vicinity of a
shrine, are at least a 40-minute drive from
the nearest residential area. It was
discovered that the registration officers,
mainly National Youth Service Corps
members sat idly, looking at the machines,
with no one in sight to register.
The deputy governor who expressed his
shock at the location of the registration
centres said: “We have shortfalls in
machines. But in the forest here, there are
four machines lying idle. All the people we
met here are not up to 10. But if you go to
some other places, you will find thousands of
people waiting to be registered. This, I can
assure you, is part of the rascality of the past
which the present government under Mr.
Peter Obi is trying hard to stamp out of the
state. ”
According to him, these kinds of registration
centres were used to commit electoral
fraud.
In his reaction the resident electoral
commissioner, Mr. Onukogu, said he had
only heard of these types of voting centres.
“Today I have seen one,” he said. “I am sad
that there are four machines wasting here,
whereas there are no machines in Onitsha,
Eke Awka, Ozubulu, Nnewi and parts of
Anaocha where thousands of people are
waiting to be registered. ”
He said the four centres put together had
registered only about 200 voters since the
exercise started 10 days ago, when the same
machines would have registered many
people had they been located in densely
populated areas.
“The irregular location of the centres also
poses grave risks to the registration officers
and the machines. How will I evacuate men
and machines in the event of danger ?” Mr.
Onukogu asked.
He alleged that the centres must have been
secured by an influential politician from the
area. He said he would take away three
machines and leave one behind. But he
added that he would need to meet with the
registration officials on the matter in his
office before taking action. But Mr. Onukogu
admitted that he was constrained by the fact
that the “floating registration centres” deep
in the forest were documented from the
Abuja headquarters of INEC and assured it
would be corrected.
Culled from 234next.com
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