By TONY EDIKE
TWO ad-hoc staff hired by the  Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the voter registration have been arrested by operatives of the State Security Service, SSS, in Enugu for allegedly registering primary school pupils.

The two persons, suspected to be members of the National Youth Service Corps,  were apprehended along with two others including a 76-year-old man on Friday at Central School, Akama-Oghe in Ezeagu local government area of  Enugu State while registering the pupils at an illegal registration unit.

Two Direct Data Capturing  (DDC) machines used for the registration of the under-aged pupils were impounded by the security operatives who acted on a tip-off.The state director of SSS, Abdullahi Shinkafi, who confirmed the arrest, said  the suspects were  being detained at the state headquarters of the security agency in Enugu  State.

Reacting to the incident, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC,   Dr Josiah Uwazuruonye, said the activities of the arrested ad-hoc staff  were being investigated by the SSS,  adding that they would be handed over to the police for necessary action.
Uwazuruonye also disclosed that the Electoral Officer in the area had been interrogated by the SSS.

“The matter is being investigated at the SSS headquarters now, after which it would be handed over to police. I can only confirm to you that my electoral officer in that area has been interrogated by the SSS. I cannot tell you if the arrested ad-hoc staff are corps  members until I confirm,” the REC said in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, INEC has confirmed that a total of 1,034,785 eligible voters were registered in Enugu State as at Friday with Enugu North local government area leading in the number of persons registered.

Preliminary figures released to journalists on Friday by INEC’s Director of Operations in the state, Dr Fidelis Uguru, showed that Enugu North had  recorded a total of 102,220 voters, and is closely followed by Enugu East with 101, 242 voters. Enugu South came third with 80,270 voters.

Uguru said that the final figures would be released after the end of the exercise yesterday.