In a statement on Sunday, President of the 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.
He said: “It has come to the attention of NOCSON 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 election and undermining their electoral rights. The leadership and members of the 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.
The group called for 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.
