Failure by the National Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, to distribute Permanent Voters Cards, PVC, to duly registered voters in Ika South Local Government Area, Delta State during its nationwide exercise between August 20 and 25 has turned a major cause for unrest in Agbor, the council headquarters.

The Local Electoral Officer, Mr. Nzenwa Alozie had unsettled thousands of registered voters in the locality when he broke the news days to the recently concluded exercise, that the commission had cancelled their registration and would not distribute PVCs to anyone registered in the area.

INEC claimed thus: “The electronic database of Ika South Voters Register extracted for printing was damaged by computer virus.” The remedial option of a fresh registration within the few days of the August exercise has further infuriated the people.

Penultimate Monday, thousands of placards-carrying residents in the densely populated Ika South, half of Agbor, joined by neighbours from Abavo communities, marched through the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha Expressway, the Agbor-Eku-Sapele Road and other major streets in Agbor to protest what Maj. Gen. Nick Agbogun (rtd), President General, Agbor Community who led the demonstrators called, “Our isolated indefensible deregistration by INEC.”

Gen. Agbogun said: “The INEC official also affirmed that the backup register was not affected and that the area was the only one wholly affected in all 25 local government areas in Delta.

The action by the commission stands in breach of its statutory obligation to every constituent district of Nigeria and has disenfranchised thousands of eligible voters in our area and therefore decidedly unacceptable.

“Arising from the poor planning, dysfunctional equipment and inadequate logistics which marred the purported fresh registration between 20 and 25th August 2014, less than 40% of a cancelled register of 73, 000 voters were captured.”

Consequently, the Ika South people request INEC to restore the original Voters Register from the existing backup database to validate all existing temporary voters’ cards as did in other areas.

“If restoring the cancelled register is impracticable, INEC should allow at least three weeks for conduct of a credible and inclusive fresh registration in Ika South. We are unable to understand how the loss of a copy of Voters Registrar justifies cancellation of an entire register when the original database is intact,” the protesters added.

At the local INEC office where the protest train stopped over,  Nzenwa, the Ika South INEC Officer who received a copy of their petition said their message would be conveyed to appropriate quarters as the complaint is being adequately treated in Abuja.