The acting chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo state, Jarret Tenebe, has called for the cancellation of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to start on Monday, May 26, and to end on June 5, ahead of the September 21, governorship election.
Tenebe declared that any attempt to proceed with the CVR would not only jeopardise the integrity of the voter registration process but would undermine the trust and confidence of the Edo electorate in the electoral system.
Edo’s acting chairman of the main opposition APC, on Sunday, May 26, in Benin, rejected the planned use of the Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area’s INEC office, located at No. 16, Customs Road, off Benin-Auchi Road, Benin, as the temporary “State Headquarters” of the electoral umpire, for the CVR to commence, given last Friday evening/Saturday morning’s flooding of its headquarters at Aduwawa, on Benin-Auchi Road.
He condemned Edo INEC’s plan to bring in additional machines from neighbouring Delta and Bayelsa states, which he described as premeditated, thereby confirming his earlier position that a chieftain of the governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo hired his wife, who is a Director in INEC’s Bayelsa state’s ICT office, to pre-fill names in the data-capturing machine.
Tenebe noted that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in Edo, Dr. Anugbum Onuoha, had rightly acknowledged that the INEC’s Benin headquarters had suffered significant damage to its functionality, while the commission could no longer pretend to be determined to ensure that the CVR would proceed as scheduled, which he described as unacceptable.
He said: “The compelling reasons behind Edo APC’s call for the cancellation of the CVR in the state are compromised INEC officials, deployment of biased ad-hoc staff, manipulation of voter registration data, and the extensive damage to INEC’s Edo State headquarters by the flood, which damaged equipment and materials for the CVR.
“The wise option for INEC is the immediate cancellation of the CVR exercise, thereby prioritising the safety and well-being of its staff, and the general public, more than anything else.
“INEC must address the aftermath of the flooding squarely, and restore its operations to full functionality, before resuming any electoral activity in Edo state.”
INEC’s spokesman in Edo, Timidi Wariowei, in his reaction, reiterated that the electoral umpire held a stakeholders’ meeting in Benin on May 16, which was attended by leaders of PDP, APC and the 14 other participating political parties.
Wariowei said: “Our doors are open. It is not good to antagonise the electoral commission when its officials have not done anything wrong. It is not fair to INEC and its officials. This is not the way to go.
“If anyone has anything to say, the person should come to the REC of INEC in Edo State. It is wrong to dish out those allegations.”
The spokesman of INEC in Edo also assured that the commission would conduct a free, fair, and credible governorship election in the South-south state while urging politicians and their supporters not to heat the polity, but to give peace a chance, as they campaign in the 192 wards of Edo.
INEC’s national commissioner and chairman, the information and voter education committee, Sam Olumekun, had earlier in an online statement stated that a preliminary assessment showed that the downpour in Benin and its environs damaged a section of the INEC’s office, with movable and immovable items, including vehicles parked at the premises, office furniture and equipment submerged.
Olumekun admitted that some of the voter enrollment machines, already configured for the CVR, were affected by the massive flooding, but noted that the commission was delivering additional machines from neighbouring states to make up for the shortfall, while adding that INEC was determined to ensure that the CVR in all the 192 wards across Edo would proceed on May 27, as scheduled.
INEC’s national commissioner and chairman, the information and voter education committee, however, stated that given the emergency, the state headquarters of the commission would not serve as a registration centre as planned, thereby moving it to No. 16, Customs Road, Benin.
The REC of INEC in Edo, earlier during the stakeholders’ meeting in Benin, assured that the simultaneous distribution of 373,030 uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and CVR for ten days would be hitch-free.
Onuoha revealed that registered voters in Edo stood at 2,501,081, while collected PVCs were 2,128,288, and 373,030 PVCs had not been collected.
He noted that the two exercises would be between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily, including weekends, in all Edo’s 192 wards and the state headquarters of INEC in Benin, with each registration centre to be manned by two officials from INEC and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The REC of INEC also declared that no PVC would be collected by proxy, and pleaded for the support of traditional rulers, religious leaders, chairmen of political parties, and civil society organisations, among others, to ensure the success of the exercises.
Sixteen political parties will be participating in the crucial poll, with campaigns ongoing across the 18 LGAs of the south-south state.
