Electorate in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo state took advantage of the presence of the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) in the State to protest inadequate CVR machines for continuous voters’ registration.
The protesters, on Monday stormed the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commissionl, INEC office at Alagbaka in Akure to complain about inadequate Continuous Voters Registration, (CVR), Machines to capture eligible voters in the local government ahead of the November governorship election.
They were led by the former Deputy Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly Ogundeji Iroju to meet the INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who was in the state to monitor the ongoing CVR Exercise and meet with major stakeholders ahead of the governorship election.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Ogundeji Iroju told the INEC chairman that the development would lead to disenfranchisement of voters in the local government as they were unable to register.
He said, “ Sometimes last week, I led some community leaders to come and meet the INEC Electoral Commissioner, about the CVR that is ongoing in preparation for November governorship election in Ondo State. Ore happens to be the largest electoral ward in Ondo State comprising 80 polling units and it is just one electoral ward.
“INEC deployed only one registration machine to Ore, likewise other wards that have 12 polling units. Millions of our people in Ore are deprived of registration and it means they would be disenfranchised on the day of election.
“Fortunately, we were told that Prof Mahmood Yakubu was in Akure yesterday. We then decided to meet with him and tell him our challenges so that he can assist us to deploy more machines for Ore.
“Secondly, we want the INEC chairman to know that Ore deserves to be eight wards or more because of the population and because of the number of polling units that are currently there. We want him to help us during delineation of wards and Constituencies and create more wards in Ore so that our people would feel the dividends of democracy.
“Thirdly, Ore community alone being a heterogenous and cosmopolitan community deserves to be a state Constituency that would produce one representative to the house of assembly so that our yearnings and aspirations could be taken to the government.”
Responding, Prof. Yakubu assured the community leaders that more machines would be deployed to Ore community.
The INEC Chairman assured that now that he is Ondo State, the grievances of the protesters would be addressed before leaving the state.
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