By Suleiman Anyalewechi
The Youth wing of the Apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo Worldwide, Anambra State Chapter, has strongly condemned the alleged chaotic nature of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise in the State.
This is as the group alleged a hidden plan to systematically disenfranchise a large section of the voting population of the State.
The Source reports that as part of the preparations for the forthcoming August 16, 2025, Anambra South Senatorial District by-election and the November 8, 2025 off-circle Governorship contest, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has embarked on Continuous Voter Registration exercise in the State.
But in a statement from its spokesperson, Comrade Uzo Ekemezie, on Thursday, the Ohaneze youth condemned what it described as the spate of avoidable glitches that have so far defined the exercise, particularly, in Ogbaru, Obosi, Isiagu, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ihiala and several other parts of the State.
According to the body, the unfortunate development has regrettably resulted in several thousands of potential voters, being systematically denied their constitutional rights to register and participate in the electoral process.
Ekemezie alleged that the unexplained and avoidable difficulties being experienced by the electorate, in what should, otherwise, be a seamless exercise is a deliberate scheme to disenfranchise the people of the state in future elections.”
According to the Ohaneze Youth, reports from various parts of the State paint a very disturbing picture of an exercise primed to fail with glaring cases of under supply of registration materials, including machines and even officials.
The body expressed serious concern that the limited supply of registration materials and non-availability of enough INEC officials have placed the people at the mercy of the few personnel who are alleged to be extorting the people.
According to the Ohaneze youths, in some cases, people are being forced to travel long distances from their areas to register.
“Even at that, after trekking such long distances ,the people are still faced with difficulties registering owing to shortfalls both in registration materials and registration officials.
The resultant effects include ,the mindless extortion of the people,by the few personnel available.
The situation is also not helped by inadequate network, infrastructure, leading to INEC field officers relying on individuals to provide personal data connectivity to power their systems.
There are reports of extortion, where citizens are being forced to pay money ( bribes) to registration officers in order to exercise their civic right.
“Transaction-driven bottlenecks, especially in populous wards like Obosi , Nigeria’s largest ward where most eligible voters have been unable to register”, the Ohaneze noted.
While describing the situation as totally unacceptable, the body called on the Electoral umpire to as a matter of urgent necessity, consider an extension to the CVR exercise to ensure that no eligible voters are disenfranchised.
The group also demanded for the immediate deployment of adequate human and material resources to ensure a hitch free exercise.
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