INEC urges eligible female voters in FCT to register

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appealed to eligible female voters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to register in the ongoing five days Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the appeal while speaking with newsmen when he visited some registration centres on Friday in Abuja.

He said that available records showed that no fewer than 21,978 voters in the FCT had registered in the last two days of the exercise.

“12,000 of this figure are male while over 9,000 are female.

“So we are appealing to our eligible female voters to come out so that they can be registered,” he said.

Yakubu pledged that the commission would do everything possible to ensure that eligible voters in the territory were captured in the ongoing CVR.

He said that it was the desire of the commission to ensure that interested eligible voters were registered and empowered with the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to cast their vote.

He said: “the truth is that people have greater confidence in the electoral process and everybody wants to be registered.

“It is our desire to rise up to the challenge of Nigerians to be registered and vote, whether they are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or not.

“I want to assure you that we will do whatever it takes to ensure that Nigerians are empowered with PVCs to vote.

“The power to vote is the possession of the PVC.”

The chairman said that the commission would meet to look into the request of the registrants that more Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines and manpower should be deployed to registration centres.

He added that the request that the five days stipulated for the exercise should be extended would also be considered by the commission.

“The purpose of this monitoring is to see feel the exercise and the challenges associated with it.

“We have had two major requests calling for the deployment of more DDC machines and extension of date.

“We will go back to the office and discuss on the request,” he pledged.

Yakubu said that the commission was working on a portal, an online platform to facilitate the process of applying for transfer of voters’ card from one place to another.

National Daily reports that the INEC chairman visited registration centres at Primary School, Wuse Zone 2 and Government Secondary School, Area 10, Garki.

At the Area 10 centre, Mr Sunday Ameh, a registrant urged INEC to deploy more DDC machines to fast track the registration.

At Wuse Zone 2 Centre, Miss Jenifer Okechukwu, a student also emphasised the need for INEC to create more registration centres.