Adamu said that the
exercise would take place at various local government secretariats, and urged
prospective voters to come in person as there would be no registration by
proxy.
The Plateau office of INEC said on Tuesday in Jos that
20,000 voter’s cards had been abandoned in its offices.
“The cards have been there for years; their owners have not
come for them. We are appealing to the owners to come for them,” Mr
Abdulrahaman Adamu, the Administrative Secretary of the commission, said at a
stakeholders’ meeting.
He said that a 90-day voter’s registration exercise would
commence on Thursday, April 27, and advised owners of the abandoned cards to
use the opportunity to collect them.
Adamu said that the exercise would take place at various
local government secretariats, and urged prospective voters to come in person
as there would be no registration by proxy.
He also advised people against double registration, warning
that the machines would detect such illegalities.
The official advised people relocating to other areas to
fill a transfer form to facilitate the relocation of their voting points.
Adamu challenged parents, community leaders and politicians
to ensured that underage persons were not allowed to register, and called for
full support from all stakeholders toward success.
He, however, disclosed that the exercise would be a
continuous one so as to avoid `fire brigade’ registration in future.
Leaders of political parties in their speeches, however,
urged INEC to conduct the voters registrations at wards headquarters to
encourage more eligible Nigerians to participate in the exercise.
Mr Damishi Sango, the Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), expressed fear that the exercise might not get the desired mass
participation if it was restricted to local government secretariats.
“Such secretariats are difficult to access by those at the
rural areas. Some villages are located several kilometres away from the council
secretariats and may be discouraged by the huge crowd waiting to be registered.
“When these people consider the long distance they are
coming from and how they will go back, they may be discouraged.
“ I suggest that registration booths should be located at
least at federal wards for accessibility because
it is only in Jos city that 70 per cent of people can easily
go to the units and return with ease the same day.”
Mr Binkur Lohmap, the Assistant Secretary, All Progressive
Congress (APC), who spoke in the same vein, urged INEC to do everything
possible to ensure that no one was disenfranchised.
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