Abuja and Osa Okhomina, Michael Oche, Yenagoa with agency report">
  • About Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact
Friday, April 23, 2021
  • Login
Leadership Newspaper
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • COVER STORIES
    • WORLD
    • METRO
    • BREAKING NEWS
    • CRIME
    • LAW
    • EDUCATION
    • LABOUR MATTERS
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORTS
    • FOOTBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • GOLF
    • ATHLETICS
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • INTERVIEWS
  • COLUMNS
    • MONDAY COLUMN
    • TUESDAY COLUMN
    • WEDNESDAY COLUMN
    • THURSDAY COLUMN
    • FRIDAY COLUMN
    • SATURDAY COLUMN
    • SUNDAY COLUMN
  • OPINION
  • HEALTH
HAUSA
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • COVER STORIES
    • WORLD
    • METRO
    • BREAKING NEWS
    • CRIME
    • LAW
    • EDUCATION
    • LABOUR MATTERS
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORTS
    • FOOTBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • GOLF
    • ATHLETICS
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • INTERVIEWS
  • COLUMNS
    • MONDAY COLUMN
    • TUESDAY COLUMN
    • WEDNESDAY COLUMN
    • THURSDAY COLUMN
    • FRIDAY COLUMN
    • SATURDAY COLUMN
    • SUNDAY COLUMN
  • OPINION
  • HEALTH
No Result
View All Result
Leadership Newspaper
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home NEWS

Nigerians Lament As Voter Registration Ends

3 years ago
in NEWS
5 min read
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
SendShareShare on FacebookTweet this
Zenith Account Opening

Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have lamented their inability to get the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday ended its Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise.

LEADERSHIP Weekend recalls that the INEC had said it would suspend the exercise on August 31 until after the 2019 elections.

The suspension earlier fixed for August 17 was moved to August 31 to allow more people to register.

In most registration centres visited by our reporters in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital, many residents said they had to pay as much as N500 and N1,000 to register yesterday, being deadline day.

Hundreds of prospective voters,within few days to the end of the exercise had been trooping to the centres as early as 5am to write their names and book for early chance to be captured,

samndaads
samndaads

It was gathered that despite the orderly arrangement, some staff of the commission took advantage of the situation to make brisk business with the collection of N200, N500 and N1,000 to ensure quick registration.

At the INEC office at Onopa in Yenagoa local government area, many people were locked outside the gate, while the few whose names appeared top on the list were allowed into the premises in trenches of tens for capturing.

Some of the intended voters who spoke with journalists claimed that the main reason for the last minute rush was due to shortage of data capturing equipment for the exercise.

ADVERTISEMENT

Also, a voter who didn’t want his name mentioned in the report said that the exercise was marred by insufficient materials and called for extension of the exercise to accommodate good numbers of eligible Nigerians.

A voter who identified himself as Pere Godstime said he has been frequent in INEC office for the past three days without having a chance to be captured in the exercise.

He urged the commission to always put necessary mechanism on ground in future exercise.

Some men of the Nigerian Police Force who were deployed to maintain security allegedly took advantage of the crowded situation and embarked on collection of N300 to quicken the chances of prospective voter to register.

Also, Lagos residents besieged registration centres across the state yesterday in a last-minute rush to beat the deadline as the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) drew to a close ahead of the 2019 general election.

At centres visited, residents seeking to register in order to beat the deadline shared their experiences.

At INEC office in Ikotun/Igando Local Council Development Area, eligible voters had besieged the registration centre as at 7am.

Mr Olugbenga Ogundayo, a civil servant, told NAN that he was at the centre at 5pm on Thursday and INEC officials gave him number 182 to come back on Friday for registration.

According to him, this was because they (the officials) already had many people in queue to register for Thursday.

He said, “As a worker, it is not easy for me to leave my work and come for the registration. Many times, l had come here after close of work and they would say they had closed for the day. I have been on queue since 6.30 a.m with the number they gave me yesterday.

“They are yet to start calling us in for the exercise. I am praying they attend to me today; if not, INEC will have to extend this exercise so that many of us, especially workers, can be registered”.

A businesswoman, Mrs Romoke Akanji, told NAN that the long queue had persisted in the last two weeks and she could not stand the rigour.

Her words: “The suffering is too much.  I just said let me come and try my luck this morning, and as at 7:20am, they gave me number 480 in the queue.

“I am still wondering how long I will wait here because I have lost hope of being registered. We are begging them to extend the registration so that many of us can be captured”.

A trader, Miss Francisca Esione, claimed that one registration centre in Ikotun/Igando could not cater for the large number of residents.

“I had been here three times before now, and today I have been here since morning; you can see the crowd. What they have been doing in this centre is to register about 150 to 200 people; after that, they will stop for the day and ask us to go. They should just help us extend this registration and also create more centres so that we do not have to travel far”, she said.

It was also discovered that at 9am when INEC officials were calling people in for registration, the last person in the queue was number 618.

An INEC official at the centre who spoke on condition of anonymity said the centre began registration at 9am and closed by 5pm and would only attend to people in queue.

He said, “We register about 250 to 300 people a day but you know since the exercise is closing today, people are coming out in their numbers because many Nigerians like to wait for the last minute.

“As you can see, we are calling them in by their numbers because the crowd is too much; it is the best way to control the crowd and make our work easy”.

Hundreds of residents in mushin local government area were also said to have come out in the last-minute rush.

One of them, Mr Idris Olubiyi, said he had been coming to the registration centre since Monday but had yet to be registered.

“I have been coming here everyday since Monday; this exercise is not well organised, I have not registered despite my eagerness to do so; it is very frustrating”, he said.

Ms Funmilayo Daniel, a student, said she had been there since 6:00am to be registered.

She said that she would not be able to vote in 2019 if the registration closed.

An octogenarian, Pa Oluwole Adeoye, told NAN at the centre that he had been there since 5am.

Mrs Gbemisola Alalade, another resident, said she wrote her name on the list since 6:00am and was waiting to be called by the officials to collect a  form to fill.

“The process is very slow at this centre. I was here on Wednesday and Thursday but I was told that the equipment were down. So, I had to go home in frustration,” she said.

Alalade said there was pressure because some workers, especially in the private sector, may not have been given permission to go for registration during working days.

Tags: the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
SendShareShareTweetSharePin
Previous Post

PMB, Merkel Sign Pact On Volkswagen Manufacturing In Nigeria

Next Post

APC Insists On Direct Primaries For States

Related Posts

FOREIGN: Dozens Of Palestinians Injured in Clashes With Israeli Police

FOREIGN: Dozens Of Palestinians Injured in Clashes With Israeli Police

52 seconds ago
biden

Biden Set To Make Maiden Foreign Trip In June to UK, Belgium

6 mins ago
FOREIGN: Navalny Ends Hunger Strike After Being Seen by Civilian Doctors

FOREIGN: Navalny Ends Hunger Strike After Being Seen by Civilian Doctors

8 mins ago
FOREIGN: Chad Holds Funeral For President Idriss Deby

FOREIGN: Chad Holds Funeral For President Idriss Deby

12 mins ago
JUSUN Strike: Buhari Directs Ngige, Others To Resolve Strike 

JUSUN Strike: Buhari Directs Ngige, Others To Resolve Strike 

21 mins ago
kwara

Community Policing: Kwara Gov Flags Off Training For 1,056 Constables

33 mins ago
Next Post
Ebri To Declare For APC National Chair Wednesday

APC Insists On Direct Primaries For States

Senator Marafa Hails INEC over Rejection Of Zamfara APC Candidates

APC Senatorial Aspirant In Edo Denies Quitting Race

OPINION POLL

Alleged Support For Terrorists: Is the Presidency Right To Defend Pantami?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

LATEST NEWS

FOREIGN: Dozens Of Palestinians Injured in Clashes With Israeli Police

FOREIGN: Dozens Of Palestinians Injured in Clashes With Israeli Police

April 23, 2021
biden

Biden Set To Make Maiden Foreign Trip In June to UK, Belgium

April 23, 2021
FOREIGN: Navalny Ends Hunger Strike After Being Seen by Civilian Doctors

FOREIGN: Navalny Ends Hunger Strike After Being Seen by Civilian Doctors

April 23, 2021
FOREIGN: Chad Holds Funeral For President Idriss Deby

FOREIGN: Chad Holds Funeral For President Idriss Deby

April 23, 2021
JUSUN Strike: Buhari Directs Ngige, Others To Resolve Strike 

JUSUN Strike: Buhari Directs Ngige, Others To Resolve Strike 

April 23, 2021
kwara

Community Policing: Kwara Gov Flags Off Training For 1,056 Constables

April 23, 2021
Uzodimma

Imo Attacks: 50 Suspects Arrested – Gov Uzodinma

April 23, 2021
Non-rendition Of Accounts: Reps Give NNPC’s 17 Subsidiaries 7-Day  Ultimatum Or Risk Arrest

President Buhari Restores Ownership Of OML 123, Others To NNPC

April 23, 2021
buhari

Climate Change: Nigeria Ready To Support Attainment Of Paris Agreement – Buhari 

April 23, 2021
Ibom Deep Seaports To Lunch Nigeria To Economic Boom – Commissioner

Site Of A’Ibom Deep Seaport Not Based On Sentiment – Commissioner

April 23, 2021

Zenith Account Opening



ADVERTISEMENT
  • adverts@leadership.ng

© 2020 Leadership Newspaper

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • COVER STORIES
    • WORLD
    • METRO
    • BREAKING NEWS
    • CRIME
    • LAW
    • EDUCATION
    • LABOUR MATTERS
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORTS
    • FOOTBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • GOLF
    • ATHLETICS
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • INTERVIEWS
  • COLUMNS
    • MONDAY COLUMN
    • TUESDAY COLUMN
    • WEDNESDAY COLUMN
    • THURSDAY COLUMN
    • FRIDAY COLUMN
    • SATURDAY COLUMN
    • SUNDAY COLUMN
  • OPINION
  • HEALTH

© 2020 Leadership Newspaper

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Go to mobile version
pixel