Extend voters’ registration or plunge Ondo into crisis, group tells INEC

Ahead of the November 26 governorship election in Ondo State, a coalition of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accredited observers, has warned that refusal to extend the just-concluded Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise will plunge the state into crisis.

The leader of the team, Mr. Kalu Victor, in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday in Akure observed that the state is already tensed up politically and INEC must forestall any situation that might spark off crisis.

Victor warned that “any attempt by INEC, persons or groups to compromise the exercise aimed at disenfranchising a section of the state from voting during the coming elections will rather worsen the already tensed political and security situation.”

He said his statement was in response to the outcry by thousands of eligible voters, who could not register during the five days announced by INEC for the CVR across the 18 LGAs of the state.

His words: “The exercise witnessed a large turnout of voters across the state but the slow pace and ineffectiveness of the machines indicate that anxious voters in Ondo State cannot be captured all within the stipulated five days of this exercise.

“The registration was marred by very slow and ineffective machines, especially on the first and second days of the exercise. The late commencement of the exercise daily across the state was yet another worrisome case affecting the registration”.

He also identified “an obvious concentration and deployment of machines in low populated areas with the very high populated areas suffering shortages of machines and manpower”.