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By John Ernest
The Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission Chairman, Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak has stated that those who have just registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the ongoing continuous voter registration exercise will not be allowed to vote in December 2nd Local Government elections in the state.
The AKISIEC boss dropped this hint yesterday while briefing journalists on the activities of the forthcoming local government elections at Nigeria Union of Journalists State Secretariat, Uyo. Ikoiwak stressed that anyone that has just registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the ongoing continuous voters registration exercise will not have their name on the register and should not get close to the polling unit. Adding that those who lost their Permanent Voter Card (PVC) will be allowed to vote as long as their names are in the INEC register.
In his words, “let me remain all the eligible voters that voting begins by 8am and closes by 2pm. That means every voter is expected to be at his/her voting unit with his/her Permanent Voters Card (PVC) on or before 2pm, after which that person would have disqualified his/her self by appearing late. It is also important to say that every voter is expected to appear in person with his / her voter’s card. Let me add that we are using the 2015 Voter Register produced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This means that anyone who just registered with INEC in the ongoing continuous voter registration will not have his/her name in the register and therefore is not eligible to vote and has no business at the polling unit. However, the people who have lost their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and their names are in the register will be allowed to vote”. He declared.
While offering insight to the fact that non sensitive materials had already been deployed to AKISIEC area offices in the 31 Local Government Areas of the State, the AKISIEC Chairman noted that for the smooth running of the elections, the commission has trained all its Ad hoc staff, retained Electoral Officers among supportive staff. Ikoiwak noted that Card readers will not be used for the elections, stressing that it is important to say that every voter is expected to appear in person with his/her Voter’s card.
