Vunderkind
Social Member
We read today from The News Nigeria that Lagos' number one citizen, Babatunde Raji Fashola and his wife, along with everyone else who registered at the governor's polling unit have been declared 'missing' on the INEC database.
As a result, governor Fashola and his wife were unable to collect their voters cards yesterday.
The governor arrived his Ward G3, plling Unit E002, State Junior Secondary School, Surulere at about 2:00pm yesterday where he had registered with his wife, Dame Abimbola, in 2010, and he met no INEC official.
It was after waiting there for a long time he saw a notice pasted on the school's entrance which read: “We regret to inform you that those who registered in this polling unit do not have permanent voters’ cards. Please come back between 3rd and 8th December 2014 for fresh registration.”
Fashola, needless to say, was quite unhappy about it, and papers report that he reacted quite angrily at this.
“We have seen that INEC is the biggest threat to our democracy. They set date for the distribution of PVC, the state mobilised its residents for the exercise. We put all machinery in place only for the electoral body to change the date of the exercise. They said that the distribution and registration of voters would be done in 11 councils and not the 20 local governments.
“While the 11 had been handled in an unsatisfactory way, now the exercises in nine local governments are not ready. If I the governor of the state cannot vote, it states what the electoral body had done. They came in the midnight and said that we should all come back and register on 3rd December 3rd, 2014. We registered and voted in that place. And there are evidences to show that,” he decried.
He continued, “now, there are questions that must be answered by INEC; was the PVC for those units which they have cancelled printed? And if yes, who have they given them to?”
He insisted that it was impossible to wipe voters data just like that, and said the INEC should realize that he still has his temporary voter's card and that he expects those who have theirs to keep them, stating that “INEC registered us and they cannot deregister us because we are still alive.”
“It is disgraceful to say the least. This shows how we organise the affairs of this country. Everything that had happened under Jega’s tenure, it has been characterised by mistakes from his very first election. Promises have been made and broken. It is a disappointment. We will participate in the election whether they like it or not. I feel sad when I visited India and I saw how the country was organising elections for population more than ours without hitches,” he said.
As a result, governor Fashola and his wife were unable to collect their voters cards yesterday.
The governor arrived his Ward G3, plling Unit E002, State Junior Secondary School, Surulere at about 2:00pm yesterday where he had registered with his wife, Dame Abimbola, in 2010, and he met no INEC official.
It was after waiting there for a long time he saw a notice pasted on the school's entrance which read: “We regret to inform you that those who registered in this polling unit do not have permanent voters’ cards. Please come back between 3rd and 8th December 2014 for fresh registration.”
Fashola, needless to say, was quite unhappy about it, and papers report that he reacted quite angrily at this.
“We have seen that INEC is the biggest threat to our democracy. They set date for the distribution of PVC, the state mobilised its residents for the exercise. We put all machinery in place only for the electoral body to change the date of the exercise. They said that the distribution and registration of voters would be done in 11 councils and not the 20 local governments.
“While the 11 had been handled in an unsatisfactory way, now the exercises in nine local governments are not ready. If I the governor of the state cannot vote, it states what the electoral body had done. They came in the midnight and said that we should all come back and register on 3rd December 3rd, 2014. We registered and voted in that place. And there are evidences to show that,” he decried.
He continued, “now, there are questions that must be answered by INEC; was the PVC for those units which they have cancelled printed? And if yes, who have they given them to?”
He insisted that it was impossible to wipe voters data just like that, and said the INEC should realize that he still has his temporary voter's card and that he expects those who have theirs to keep them, stating that “INEC registered us and they cannot deregister us because we are still alive.”
“It is disgraceful to say the least. This shows how we organise the affairs of this country. Everything that had happened under Jega’s tenure, it has been characterised by mistakes from his very first election. Promises have been made and broken. It is a disappointment. We will participate in the election whether they like it or not. I feel sad when I visited India and I saw how the country was organising elections for population more than ours without hitches,” he said.
