24th January, 2011
As the voter registration exercise enters the second week, a federal lawmaker, Hon. Dayo Bush-Alebiosu has expressed worry over the technical hitches being experienced in the conduct of the exercise.
Bush-Alebiosu who represents Kosofe Federal Constituency of Lagos in the House of Representatives urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to address the hitches being experienced by Nigerians trooping to the several registration centres to perform this all-important civic responsibility.
According to him, enthusiastic people are being denied the opportunity to register because of some technical challenges associated with the direct data capture machines.
He commended the residents of Kosofe for their enthusiasm and steadfastness despite the problems.
Commenting on the performance of INEC in the registration exercise, Bush-Alebiosu said: “The performance is less than satisfactory. The pace of registration is disturbing. There are basically some technical errors in some of the machines. I don’t know how many people will be able to register within this time frame of less than a week to go and I am convinced in my mind that this exercise has to be extended. This is desirable now so as not to disenfranchise Nigerians,†he stated.
Bush-Alebiosu pointed out that there should be no excuse for failure on the part of the electoral commission because the National Assembly and the Presidency approved INEC’s budget for the exercise.
The lawmaker who has just been given another mandate by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN to be the party’s flag-bearer in the April 2011 elections lamented that people were already being disenfranchised and urged the electoral commission to ensure that all eligible voter were registered.
“I want to specially appreciate and commend the good people of Kosofe and Lagos State in general for believing in this process. Reports from Agboyi-Ketu, Ikosi-Isheri and Kosofe areas indicate that our people have been waiting since 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. to get registered at some registration units.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga
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