MARGARET CHIDERA
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had been asked to extend voting duration in six states of the Federation.
International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), made the demand in a letter to the commission, Saturday afternoon.
The Human Rights organisation’s demand came amid complaints from different states over late arrival of election materials.
In the letter signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair, Intersociety, Chinwe Umeche, Head, Democracy and Good Governance Programme and Chidinma Udegbunam, Head, Campaign and Publicity Department, they listed the affected states as Anambra, Delta, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia.
The group said it was regrettable that the earlier alarm it raised over the logistics plans for the election came to pass, stressing that as at 12: 30pm, INEC staff were yet to arrive in various polling units across Anambra State.
Lamented the group: “Our findings further indicate that similar situations have been the case in several parts of Delta, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia, whereas in States like Kano, Adamawa and so on, accreditation/voting started as early as 8:30am with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as one of the earliest voters.
“In many parts of Ideato North and Ideato South, Okigwe and several, if not most parts of Imo State, INEC officials were nowhere to be seen with voting materials; likewise different parts of Aguata, including Uga, Ekwulobia, etc. All these are happening with less than one-and-a-half hours to the end of the voting or before 2:30pm.”
Intersociety demanded that for the purpose of equity and to disabuse the minds of tens of millions of Nigerians who already held that the delays were deliberately orchestrated to shut out millions of enthusiastic voters from freely voting candidates of their choice especially in South-East and South-South, the exercise should be extended.
Insisted Intersociety: “Commissioner Festus Okoye is called upon to use his position as National Commissioner for Voter Education and National Commissioner for Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi to ensure total and timely heeding to this clarion call/demand.
“All the INEC lapses pointed out must be holistically addressed and nipped in the bud, failure of which can have far reaching consequences.
“We also call on security agencies to beef up security around the polling centres and ward collation centers and adjoining routes and boundaries.
“We call on public spirited individuals and entities to donate sets of generators and premium motor spirit or fuel to enable the electoral officers have hitch-free conduct of the poll and safe transportation of the credible results generated irrespective of which political parties the results might belong to.”
