On today’s edition of Journalist Hangout, Babajide Otitoju expressed his reaction after a Federal High Court In Abuja prevented INEC from ending Voter’s registration exercise on June 30.
Babajide said “Our people usually leave things to the last minute before they show interest. If it was a lot easier, I am sure we wouldn’t be talking about this problem. There were days when people queued up as early as 5am, yet they will go back home unable to register.
So the system has to be made much easier for our people, if it is not made much easier for our people, it will be difficult for them to vote. Sometimes when I am going to work early in the morning and I am passing through Aina and some of those streets in Ojodu, I will see a huge crowd.
It’s unfair to just blame our people for this situation. Many people cannot afford to not be at work for many hours, but that is the situation that the NIN thing imposed on our people, that even the Voters registration exercise imposed on our people.
Sometimes our people are subjected to extortion just to be able to register. If you ask people to tell you their stories, some of them were made to part with money just to be able to do their NIN and you wonder why some people just stayed away. It’s because the system is made so difficult for them.
I believe that that they need to make the system a lot easier for our people, so that they will just stroll into the place, register and go to work, instead of our people queuing up as early as 5am just to register”.