The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says about 11,721 persons have been registered in the ongoing Continous Voters Registration exercise in Rivers State as at 7 AM of Monday, August 23.
INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Barr. Obo Effanga, made the disclosure while dismissing allegations from some council chairmen, particularly Dr. Chidi Lloyd of Emouha Local Government Area, that the exercise is being sabotaged in the state with the commission’s staff doing nothing to register Rivers people who have indicated interest.
Lloyd in a live radio programme said: “You have INEC offices open, people seated, but they are not doing anything. So, according to the calendar of INEC, the exercise is going on but what is the output? The important thing is that they are supposed to register prospective voters. But each time they went there, they are told to wait because server is down. Because we are a responsible government, we must tell people what is going on.”
The Emouha LGA boss had also joined other council chairmen to protest at the INEC state office in Port Harcourt on Monday over alleged inconsistencies in the CVR process in Rivers State.
The chairmen had lamented about an alleged recurring poor network at the respective registration centres which sometimes make it difficult to access the commission’s server to attend to potential registrants. They also appealed for the supply of more registration materials and the deployment of more officers to the LGA to speed up the exercise in the state.
Meanwhile, Effanga in his reaction picked holes in Lloyd’s claims that the exercise is facing a breach in his LGA.
The Rivers REC who shared figures of completed and successful registrations from the Emouha registration centre in the past six days said the commission will not be distracted from its mandate of delivering quality service to Rivers people.
He said, “From the above information, 186 new registrations have been recorded in Emouha LGA in the last 6 days. This is exposing the lies about INEC staff doing nothing.”
“Since the commencement of the current CVR, a total of 11,721 persons have been registered in Rivers State as of 7 AM on Monday, 23rd August 2021.
“We at INEC are focused on delivering quality service to the public and urge other public officers to do same in the offices they occupy.”
He assured that more registration materials will be deployed to the LGAs subsequently to make registration easier and more accessible to rural dwellers.
