BY DAYO JOHNSON
AS the on-going voters’ registration continues to face hitches, corps members saddled with the responsibility of registering eligible voters in Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday boycotted the registration centres to protest non-payment of their allowances

A visit by Vanguard to centres across Akure metropolis indicated that the corps members numbering about 76 from the 36 units within Akure South Local Government, abandoned the Direct Data Machines, DDC,  from the Sacred Heart Primary School centre in Akure, the state capital.

It was gathered that the corps members had on Tuesday jointly agreed to move en mass to the centre to protest the non-payment of their allowances.

As early as 8.00am, the corps members gathered at the centre but refused to pick the DDC machine; and to report at their different registration centres.

They vowed not to resume the exercise unless their training, transport and feeding allowances were fully paid.

The action of the corps members coincided with the visit of the Commander of the zone F of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Alhaji Modu Bunu to registration centers across the state.

Bunu who was visiting registration units in Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States expressed shock and disbelief by the action of the Corps members who were present at the center but refused to work.

Speaking with newsmen a spokesperson of the corps members, Mr. Udochukwu Akpuh, told the zonal commander that his colleagues had exhausted all the money of them that could be taking them from their homes to the centres on daily basis.

Akpuh accussed the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in charge of the Akure South Local Government of failing to pay their allowances “despite the fact that their colleagues in

other local government councils had been paying.

He vowed that they would not resume the registration exercise unless all their allowances were fully paid.

But  the Commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps appealed them “to handle the matter with care as his discussions with the Resident Electoral Commissioners in states so far visited by him showed that INEC was having problems with its electronic payment system.

The Registration Area Officer in charge of the coalition centre, Mr. Adesola Ogunkanmi described the plights of the corps members as pathetic.

Ogunkanmi  said that he had gotten some funds from the state INEC and was ready to pay them part of their allowances.

But the corps members still refused to work as at the time of filling in this report but promised to resume work today if they are paid.

Meanwhile, the Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Fredrick Akinruntan has said the ongoing voters’ registration exercise was a major tool to youth restiveness in the Niger Delta area of the country.

The monarch, who said this after he and his wife, Stella were registered at unit 6 of Ugbo ward 2, Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Ugbonla in Ilaje local government area, noted that the exercise had

given opportunity to the youth of the area to change the socio-economic development of their areas.

He therefore urged the people of the area to come out enmasse and register as voters for the next general election.

Akinruntan noted that the exercise would give the people the opportunity to choose politicians that they felt could positively affect their lives.

According to him, instead of engaging in activities that could disrupt the peace of the oil producing communities and the entire country, the youth should get registered and vote in responsive and responsible people at every level of government.

“I want to enjoin Ilajes both home and outside the communities to go out and register and after registering they should all go out and vote for people they feel could change the landscape of

the Niger Delta. People should know that this is the legitimate way through which they can express their minds and also put in positions of authority those they can vouch for and those they think can bring about the change they desire”.