Voters’ Registration May Rock Anambra November Guber Election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have problems conducting the November governorship election in Anambra State if the commission fails to do something and immediately about updating the voters’ register.
This is because majority of the communities in Anambra North Senatorial Zone were affected by the flood disaster that washed away many communities in Nigeria last year just as there had been thousands of people who have, between the last voters registration exercise three years ago and now, reached the voting age of 18 years and would not accept to be disenfranchised.
Consequently, a group, Anambra North Democratic Forum (ANDF) has protested what it described as INEC’s nonchalance towards updating the voters’ register in the state.
ANDF yesterday noted that during the 2010 gubernatorial election in the state about 70 percent of Anambra voters were disenfranchised due to what it called shoddiness of the register used and wondered why the commission had not deemed it necessary to verify voters register and call for registration of those wrongfully excluded and those that had become eligible in the last three years.
Leader of the group, Mr. Modestus Akpeh, who spoke to newsmen in Awka said, “to start with, we in Anambra North were victims of flood disaster and you know the level of destruction by the flood. We do not know where our voters cards are and INEC has not seen the need that we should have fresh voters card.
“Again, is INEC telling us that since 2010 we have not had people who have reached the age of 18 years? We need INEC to commence verification exercise and also carry out registration of voters so that the fraud that took place in 2010 will not repeat itself in this coming governorship election in Anambra State.