By TAYE OBATERU, JIMITOTA  ONOYUME,  PETER DURU, NDAHI MARAMA,  DAYO JOHNSON, SAMUEL OYANDOGHA, AUSTIN OGWUDA, GBENGA  ARIYIBI

As the voter registration entered the seventh-day yesterday, the people of Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State are asking how over 1,000 people were already registered in one of the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines taken to the area.

They raised the alarm after it was unpacked and  it was discovered that several names were already in the machine.

“We just unpacked the machine which is supposed to be new, but the most surprising thing is that we saw people already registered with their names, thumb-prints and pictures. More than 1,000 of them. We don’t know whether INEC took it somewhere before bringing it here,”, one of the residents complained.

However, the INEC adhoc staff could not immediately provide answers to the posers as they also expressed surprise at the discovery.

Another drama in Langtang North was the refusal of a DDC machine to take the fingerprints of former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lt-General Jeremiah Useni (rtd). Tried as they did, the machine refused to accept his fingerprints and he had to abandon the attempt after several minutes, promising to try again some time.

As at Wednesday, five days into the exercise, several parts of the state were yet to be supplied the DDC machines to enable them commence the exercise, generating an outcry from the people.

Human factor
THE first day of the exercise in most parts of Rivers State was frustrating as operators of the DDC machines had problems with them, a situation that made it a  difficult task registering  prospective voters.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi, who was registered after several hours of fiddling with the machines by the  adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),  at his Ubima village, Ikwerre Local Government Area had to call for extension of the two weeks set aside for the exercise.

According to him, with the frustrating long time a prospective voter had to go through to register, there was need for INEC to consider a  review of the time frame for the exercise.  This sad picture was not only experienced at his Ubima village where he registered. It was almost the same story round the state.

Medical scanners
In Benue State, the confusion that trailed the exercise continued as the state Commissioner for Information and Culture, Dr. (Mrs.) Diana Ochoga, declared that the scanning machines  supplied Ado Local Government Area  were meant for medical purposes and not registration of voters.

Ochoga, who toured the registration centres at Ogege, Okonu, Ekele and other parts of her home local government area, discovered that the machines in use by INEC in the areas were meant for medical purposes and not for data capturing.
Fear of HIV

In Borno State, following the fear by some eligible voters that the DDC machines used by INEC in the registration were  rejecting  finger-prints of HIV/AIDS victims, many people in the state have vowed not to participate so as not to expose themselves.

Although, INEC and the suppliers of the machines issued a statement debunking the insinuation,  saying it is baseless; many people, particularly the disabled/ leper feared  the use of DDC would disenfranchise them.

Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai Elkanemi, the Shehu of Borno, expressed worry over the low turnout of women in the  state to fully participate in the  voters registration due to purdah  which bars muslim married women from coming out of their houses, and appealed to his subjects to allow their spouses and daughters to register.

Protest
In Ondo State, the exercise ran into hitches which included disruption by youths, temporary strike by corps members over non-payment of their allowances, allegation of parallel registration by parties and expression of worries by Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

A day to the commencement of the exercise, the governor had led over 5,000 people on a rally to sensitise them on the need for massive registration during the exercise. .

But, on the first day of the exercise, some youths at Igbokoda and other communities in the Ilaje Local Government Area of the state disrupted the registration.

No fewer than 300 youths beseiged many registration centres in the council and sent away corps members and  INEC officials.
The youths were protesting inadequate DDC machines in the area.

Also, they prevented the distribution of the 195 DDC machines allocated to the two constituencies in the local government.
Filthy hands

In Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, there was a mild drama at one of the registration centres  when the DDC  machine repeatedly refused to capture the fingerprints of an elderly man.

The man simply identified as Pa Binalayefa like other thousands of Bayelsans who turned out on the first day of the exercise had defied the morning harsh element and waited patiently on the queue which was moving at snail speed.

He was among the early callers at the registration centre.
Interestingly, some of the persons on the queue had to wash their hands believing being dirty was partly responsible for the machine rejecting their fingerprints. So, when it got to the turn of Pa Binalayefa, the arena was thrown into laughter as the machine refused to recognise his thumb-print.

For about 40 minutes, the corps member manning the machine battled to get the task done to no avail, prompting a young man on the queue to ask if he was a farmer which the elderly replied “yes.” The patience of the old man later paid off when the same machine eventually accepted the finger print to the relief of the corps members some of whom were already perspiring.

This was the scenario in most of the polling units in the state, a development that prompted many to call for the extension of the closing date for the exercise. The situation has since improved with registrants  not spending more than 10  minutes in the exercise.

Coincidence
In Delta State, the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Professor, Joseph Chike Edozien was enthused when he learnt the corps member  who registered him and his wife, is a product of University of Agriculture, Abeokuta in Ogun State, where he is currently the Chancellor. Elated Asagba described it as coincidence.

Asagba, who was registered at Asagba primary school Asaba, a stone throne from his palace called on the people to come out and register as it was a civic responsibility.

Earlier, the first DDC machine failed to capture the royal father’s fingerprints until the second one came to the rescue.
In Ekiti State it was frustrations and lamentations from prospective voters  as they waited endlessly to participate in the registration exercise.

Governor Kayode Fayemi on the possibility of the electoral umpire meeting the deadline set for the registration of  voters.