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The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Kwara State
government of compromising the ongoing voter registration exercise in the state
with the donation of almost N100 million at the unit rate of N50,000 to all the
1,872 polling centres in the state.

The party’s national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, in a
statement on Monday, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
to urgently “investigate the reason behind the donation,” which was allegedly
announced on the radio airwaves without stating the purpose of the donation.

ACN claimed that the need for the electoral body to “investigate
the inexplicable monetisation of the registration exercise in Kwara State
becomes even more imperative,” considering the commission’s warning against any
unsolicited financial assistance.

The party also demanded that INEC should probe its officials
across the country “in view of its implications.”

Raising more allegations, ACN expresses its concerns on what it
described as the “Greek Gift from the Kwara State government” against the
backdrop of reports that some DDC machines are being used to register voters in
certain unauthorised locations in the state”, adding that it has ascertained
that “Nigerians are resolved to fully participate in the voter registration
exercise without any financial inducement.”

Demanding an explanation to unravel the real motive of the state
government in what the party called “playing Santa Claus in January”, the party
questioned what the money was supposed to be used for, who the beneficiaries
are, why the state government would give away over 100 million naira for an
exercise that has been fully funded by the federal government through INEC, to
what extent the unsolicited cash donation has compromised the exercise, and if
there are other measures being taken by the state government to influence the
exercise in favour of the ruling party in the state.

Supporting INEC

Confirming the donation, the chief press secretary to the Kwara
State government, Mas’ud Adebimpe, told NEXT over a phone interview on Monday
that the state government made the donation to assist INEC tackle the myriad of
challenges that is plaguing the voter’s registration.

“In view of the situation INEC has found itself with the ongoing
voter’s registration, we (the Kwara State government) believe nothing is too
much in supporting the process so that our people, irrespective of political
affiliations, can register,” Mr. Adebimpe said.

The spokesperson noted some of the challenges to include
difficulties with charging the DDC machine’s power-pack, purchase of ink, and
laminating of the voters’ cards.

“With all these problems in the final lap of the registration process,
a lot of our people are yet to be registered and Mr. Jega, who is in Abuja
cannot solve all the problems. So we believe these little challenges must be
addressed so that most of our people who are majorly in the rural areas will be
enabled rather than being disabled to exercise their civic duties due to this
challenges,” Mr. Adebimpe further said.

A call to the media assistant to the chairperson of the
electoral agency, Kayode Idowu, to know the stand of the agency on such
donations, was not successful as he refused to pick the calls.