Oyegun wants INEC to solve lapses before extending registration
By GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE
BENIN—WITH the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, likely to bow to calls by Nigerians that the voters’ registration exercise be extended to enable people participate actively in it, former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has advised the commission to ensure that all the identified problems, which had been a hindrance to the commencement of the exercise were solved before talking of any extension of time.
The former Governor spoke, yesterday, in an interview with Vanguard, while releiving his experiences at his registration unit, GRA, Benin City.
According to him,“before talking of an extension of time, one must say that one is surprised that at the difficulties that are been encountered. At the beginning, the first day or second day, yes, it was reasonable to say that they be allowed to settle down. But somehow, you begin to suspect that we are being supplied equipment that do not live to their billings for the specifications that was giving.
“There are no doubts about extending the registration period, but when people are talking of extending the period, they are talking about a couple of days or weeks. That will not address the problem. That is what I want to emphasize,” he added
The problem is large, it is huge, it is real and an extension of a few days will not solve it because the equipment is still not working properly”.
“Whatever software they said they have put in place or up graded have not quite succeed as far Benin_City is concerned. At least in the GRA and if things are not working in the GRA, so, you can imagine what is happening in the rural areas of the country”.
“So, when you talked about extension of time, they should be talking of another month, not talking of days”, he said.
He said that things are so bad with the registration exercise now that he cannot even said that there should be an extension of time until the fundamental problem identified were addressed.
Recalling his experiences before and after he was registered, the former governor he had to go the the registration unit for about two days before the machine could captured his finger prints, saying that as today (Monday), he was yet to collect his voter’s card .
