INEC Registers 9,000 Voters In Rivers

Two weeks after the commencement of the Continuous Voters Registration, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it has registered more than 9,000 persons in the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak who stated this at the weekend, revealed that 400 persons have so far collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) while 200 persons have effected their transfer of voters cards to their local government areas and states.
Ikoiwak also explained that 300 persons have corrected their names in the system and said that the exercise has been successful despite agitations from some stakeholders in the state.
He noted that those clamouring for the exercise to be taken to the polling units are ignorant of the exercise, stressing that they can take their time since the exercise will last till 2019.If they cannot do it today, they can do it in the next six months or one year.
According to him: “We have 128,000 polling units in the country, and we need double of the machines and 500,000 Nigerians for the job’’.
‘’It is surprising that no person is looking at the cost implications, Nigerians should understand that the electoral acts stipulated that continuous voters registration should be held in INEC local government headquarters.’’, he said.
It would be recalled that 5 days after commencement of the exercise, there has been massive turn out by the public in various local government areas of Rivers State
The exercise has been successful in most of the local government areas of Rivers State following sensitisation by the various government organs in the state.
The Tide gathered that most of the INEC local government headquarters are being invaded by prospective persons for registration.
The crowd experienced by the INEC officers in Port Harcourt office, forced the officials to adopt a system of registration.
Speaking to The Tide, the Assistant Electoral Officer Administration (AEO), INEC office Port Harcourt, Mr Francis Ikem said the exercise has been successful, adding that the commission has registered about 200 persons.
Ikem noted that due to the rush, the commission decided to adopt to register only 50 persons per day since the exercise is a continuous one and will run till 2019.
According to him, ‘’If we allow everybody to come at once, the place will be crowded and might cause crisis. We however adopted a process for the public to write down their names and phone numbers and we call them later to come over to capture and register for the exercise at their convenience’’.