Yesterday, Professor Attahiru Jega,
Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission,
defended the electoral register usedbat the recently concluded,
controversial Anambra State
governorship election. His
explanations follow public outcry by opposition politics who described the Register as lacking in integrity and demanded to cancel the election.
He spoke at the Fourth quarterly
meeting with registered political parties in Abuja.
While acknowledging that the Registerbstill has flaws, Prof.Jega said people of Anambra state refused to make use of the opportunity offered to them by INEC to make the register work.
First-hand
"As we are all aware, complaints were made about the Register of Voters in the aftermath of the Anambra Governorship
election, with at least one political party/ candidate alleging that the Register is lacking in integrity and calling for the cancellation of the election essentially on
account of this," INEC Chairman said.
"Let me use this opportunity to
categorically affirm that while our
Register of Voters is not perfect, it has requisite integrity and it compares favourably with any Register of Voters on
our continent.
"It is certainly not as bad as some are strenuously trying to make it appear.
Nonetheless, we have to keep on
improving upon it and we have planned to keep doing so through the continuous
voter registration processes. Our CVR programme provides opportunity for registering all those who have become 18 years old since the last registration
exercise; and it also provides an
opportunity for all those with missing essential biometric details on the electronic register to be recaptured.
"INEC offered these opportunities to the people in Anambra state last August, before the governorship election.
Regrettably, many did not utilize it.
"As we move towards 2015, all
stakeholders have a joint obligation to
ensure that the CVR is utilized maximally to update and improve upon our Register
of Voters."
"Mutual trust"
The Chairman told the politicians the quarterly meeting with them through the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has been affording the Commission vital
ideas towards strengthening mutual trust ahead of the 2015 elections.
In his own remarks at the occasion, the IPAC chairman, Yunusa Tanko said political parties were alarmed over the magnitude of complaints from discrepancies in the Anambra state governorship election as regards the voters register and public enlightenment
in the recent poll.
Tanko observed that registered political parties in the country are ready to work and abide by the relevant laws in the conduct of their activities and expressed
hope that INEC would also stick to its electoral rules guiding its affairs.
Nevertheless, all political parties at the meeting applauded INEC over the permanent voters register and it's handling of the Anambra state
governorship election, except the All Progressive Congress (APC), which described the governorship election as a 'travesty of justice.'
All registered political parties attended the meeting with INEC but for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
0 comments:
Spread Love, Laughter, Ideas not Hate...