Improve Voters’ Registration In Edo North – Group Urges INEC Chairman, Edo REC

A civil society organisation, the Network of Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (NOCSON) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy more registration machines to Edo North Senatorial District.

The group stated that this would to address the insufficiency in human and material resources in the wake of the surge in registrations in the senatorial district.

Speaking during a press conference in Benin, President of NOCSON, Ogbidi Emmanuel, called on the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the Edo State Resident Commissioner, Dr. Johnson Alalibo, to address the situation so as not to deny potential voters in the senatorial district their electoral rights.

According to him, “It has come to the attention of NUCSON that the Edo North Senatorial District is lagging behind in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR). This is evident from the feeders from our foot soldiers and members, signifying strongly that the ongoing INEC registration exercise in the country is not being pursued vigorously in the district.

“The statistical distribution across the six local government areas of the district reveals that the data from the district is deplorably disproportionate relative to other districts in the state. Our findings reveal that there are not enough registration centres, INEC registration machines and personnel available in the district, thereby limiting access for potential voters to register.”

“This scenario portends both disenfranchisement of Edo North voters willing to vote in the 2023 general elections and undermining their electoral rights. The leadership and members of NOCSON as well as other stakeholders are by this press conference calling on the Chairman of INEC and particularly the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Edo State to, as a matter of urgency, activate the process of registering more eligible voters,” he charged.

President, Network of Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (NOCSON), Ogbidi Emmanuel; Public Relations Officer, NOCSON, Bevy Efek; members, NOCSON, Osamage Eghobamien, and Chigozie Sandra Osahenrumwen, during a press conference in Benin City, on Thursday, July 7, 2022.

The group called for an increase in the number of registration centres across the six LGAs in the district, including Etsako East, Etsako West, Etsako Central, Owan West, Owan East and Akoko Edo LGAs; provision of more data capturing machines to cover the six LGAs and deployment of enough personnel to man the eventual machines to be deployed to the various centres.