No Valid Registration Without Fingerprinting, Says INEC

President Goodluck Jonathan (right) with Acting National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bello Mohammed, during the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, on Tuesday.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has declared null and void all voters registration without fingerprints.

Following this, he has called on Nigerians who have conducted the exercise without their fingerprints captured to go back for a fresh registration.

Commenting about the success of the exercise so far during an appearance at the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters in Abuja, yesterday. Pro Jega while hinting on some logistics setback, said about 2,573 units across the country were yet to receive the Direct Data Capture (DDC) Machines.

He attributed the shortcoming to distribution shortfalls arising from security and terrain challenges, especially in Delta  and Lagos States.

He said, “I think where we have a huge gap is in Lagos State because of the population.”

The INEC chairman stressed that multiple or underaged registration would attract penalties. “Nigerians should not allow themselves to be registered without fingerprints. The problem of slow finger printing we have already resolved it”, he said.

Prof Jega stressed that the exercise would be reviewed at the end of the week and if there was a need to extend it, the commission would communicate to the public.

The chairman of the House Committee, Hon Musa Sarki Andar said the meeting became necessary to address some of the challenges surrounding the registration.

Meanwhile, some of those registered at the unit complained that their cards were not laminated and considered going to re-register in another unit where their cards would be laminated.

Our correspondent also observed that some residents   were taking care of the basic needs of some of the ad hoc staff to make them feel comfortable and to increase their efficiency.

“The ad hoc staff have an hour break to seek for food, leaving many on the queue, so some of us decided to provide them with food.

“We believe this token gesture will save the time that would have been lost if they continue to go out for one hour everyday to eat,” said Mrs Ifeoma Nwabueze, one of the food providers.

 Some polling units were yet to take delivery of the DDC machines, while there were still complaints of slow speed of machines, malfunctioning scanners, non-availability of machines and shortage of registration materials.

 Mr Istifanus Mwansat, Speaker, Plateau House of Assembly, has appealed to INEC to consider extending the registration time.

“Given the enthusiasm of the prospective voters to register and in view of the upsurge in their turnout, it will only be fair that they be given equal opportunities,” he said.

On his part, Sen. Gyang Dantong (Plateau-North) has also called on his constituents to assist by donating their generating sets to INEC to improve on power situation.

Dantong also appealed to residents to make the “necessary sacrifice” to ensure that the country got its electoral process right in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s resolve.

“The President has said that he will bequeath a transparent electoral process to the country, so let’s all give him the support because what is worth doing at all is worth doing well,” he said.

Mr Bencyn Ikpe, Spokesman of the Plateau INEC, said that the commission had deployed its engineers to parts of the state to increase the speed of the DDC machines from 1.2 gigabyte to 1.8 gigabyte.