26th January, 2011
A socio-political organisation, Coalition of Oodua Self Determination Group, COSEG, has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, plans to register less than the real number of eligible voters in Lagos for ulterior motives.
The group made the allegation this morning at a rally in Ajegunle area of Lagos, during which it accused INEC boss of deliberately registering fewer than the real number of eligible voters so that, like it happened during the last census, Kano would have the highest number of registered voters in the coming election.
The national chairman of the group, Dayo Ogunlana and its secretary, Rasak Oloko Oba, who both addressed the crowd wondered why only 1.2 million voters, in a population of about 20 million, had been registered in the state in ten days.
While insisting that the extension of the exercise was imperative, the group blamed malfunctioning Direct Data Capture machines, incompetent staff of the electoral body and the slow response of the populace at the commencement of the exercise for some of the inadequacies of the exercise.
COSEG, which supported the National Assembly’s amendment of the relevant law to allow the extension of the exercise, therefore called on residents of Lagos to turn out in their numbers to register.
They also urged the INEC to ensure that all its gadgets are functioning well and their staff trained to reduce the hiccups experienced so far. COSEG warned that it will resist any attempt to register less than the real number of eligible voters in Lagos with all legal, democratic and constitutional means within its disposal.
—Jamiu Yisa