Date Published: 01/20/11

Voters Regiatration: Mimiko expresses worry over technical hitches, urges INEC to brace up …says INEC may need to extend exercise in view of laspses

Olusegun Mimiko

Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko on Thursday visited some Voter Registration Centres in Akure, the state capital, where he expressed deep worry over technical hitches marring the speedy conduct of the exercise and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to brace up and correct all the hitches being experienced by people.

The Governor visited six registration centres including, Lasco, Ijo Mimo Oluwa High School, COOP HOUSE, Aule, CAC Adu Memorial High School and Testing Ground in company of top government offcials of the State wherein he commended the people for their enthusiasm to perform their civic responsiblity by registering despite the frustration being encountered.

According to Dr Mimiko, the people of the State were enthusiastic to register were being discouraged by some technical challenges on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

"The performance is less than satisfactory. The pace of registration is disturbing. There are basically some technical errors in some of the machines. Some of these problems are being rectified but my worry is that I don’t know how many people will be able to register within this time frame and with these technical challenges that our people are facing in almost every polling unit, one is worrisome," the Governor stated.

Governor Mimiko, who noted that there could be possibility for the extension of the exercise if the errors were not rectified on time, said: "In some cases, INEC is trying to solve some of these problems but there are many of them. We’ll continue to interface with INEC to ensure that the exercise comes out successful at the end of the day. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that this exercise has to be extended in term of time line".

The Governor, however, commended the people of the State for their patriotism and enthusiasm concerning the exercise, appealing to them to be patient with INEC and not to be discouraged by the challenges confronting them in their quest to register as voters.

His words: "I want to especially thank our people, I’ve gone round and learnt that our people have been waiting since 6am to 5pm to get registered. That level of commitment and enthusiasm is uncommon. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that our people have decided this time that they will want to register.

"One can only appeal to INEC and we’ll go to INEC at every stage to interface with them to ensure that we do what we should do. The minimum condition is that this time frame has to be extended. Some of these equipments have to be changed, some to be upgraded and some to be recalibrated. What is important is that our people have decided that they must be registered this time around".