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Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has expressed concern over technical hitches facing the conduct of the voters registration exercise and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to brace up and correct these.
The governor, who visited six registration centres in company of top government officials of the state, commended the people for their enthusiasm to perform their civic responsibility by registering despite the frustration being encountered.
Mr. Mimiko said the people of the state are enthusiastic to register but are discouraged by the technical challenges on the part of the electoral commission.
“The performance is less than satisfactory. The pace of registration is disturbing. There are basically some technical errors in some of the machines. Some of these problems are being rectified, but my worry is that I don’t know how many people will be able to register within this time frame and with these technical challenges that our people are facing in almost every polling unit, one is worrisome,” the governor said.
Noting that there could be possibility for the extension of the exercise if the errors were not rectified on time, he said, “In some cases, INEC is trying to solve some of these problems but there are many of them. We’ll continue to interface with INEC to ensure that the exercise comes out successful at the end of the day.
“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that this exercise has to be extended in terms of time line.”
Patient with INEC
He commended the people for their patriotism and enthusiasm concerning the exercise, appealing to them to be patient with INEC and not to be discouraged by the challenges confronting them in their quest to register as voters.
“I want to especially thank our people; I’ve gone round and learnt that our people have been waiting since 6am to 5pm to get registered. That level of commitment and enthusiasm is uncommon. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that our people have decided this time that they will want to register,” Mr. Mimiko said.
“The minimum condition is that this time frame has to be extended. Some of these equipment have to be changed, some upgraded, and some to be recalibrated. What is important is that our people have decided that they must be registered this time around,” he added.