Officials of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday
discovered that the permanent voter's cards
of Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola and his wife, Mrs. Abimbola
Fashola, could not be found in the voter's
register in the state.
Likewise, no fewer than 500 hundred eligible
voters, who registered at Surulere Ward G3,
Fashola's polling unit located at State
Junior Secondary School suffered the same
fate as the INEC continued the distribution
of PVCs.
A notice was pasted at the polling unit to
notify voters who had registered in the two
wards on Itolo Street that they had no
voters' card. The commission asked them to
register afresh at a later date.
The notice read in part: "We regret to
inform you that those who registered in this
polling unit do not have permanent voters'
cards. Please come back between 3rd and
8th December 2014 for fresh registration".
But the Lagos State Resident Electoral
Commissioner, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola
attributed the development to loss of data,
which he said, arose from the crash of the
commission's computing system.
According to the resident commissioner,
some of the data captured during the
registration in 2010 crashed. This was the
reason they lost about 1.4 million data for
voters, he said, adding: "We are embarking
on fresh registration for them and others
who were unable to register in the 2010
registration."
Apparently disappointed by the
development, the governor, who had been
sceptical of INEC's preparedness for the
2015 elections, arrived his polling unit at
about 2:05pm to see the notice pasted on
the gate.
He described the situation as "collusion or
inefficiency" on the path of INEC ahead of
the polls, pointing out that with the
development, the commission "has decided
to thread the path of destruction.
"It is a shameful path. This is my polling
unit. This is where I voted year after year.
This is where I was registered. When INEC
said they were ready to do distribution of
voter's cards, they said it was 7th to 9th of
November, later they said they were not
going to do all and that the balance will
happen between 28th and 30th.
"So, Surulere was in the balance that was
supposed to happen. So we are here today
being November 28 and this is the notice
they surreptitiously came to put here at
night. We cannot collect our PVC".
However, the governor urged those who
faced similar fate to keep their temporary
voters card as it was proof that they were
captured in the INEC database.
"We would wait for INEC because they
registered 6.4million of us in 2010, so
whatever has happened, at least we have
those cards, they can't run away from us.
Whether they like it or not, we would have
elections and we would vote in spite of
what Jega and his team may be planning."
Asked whether he would participate in the
fresh voters registration, the governor
wondered what the essence of the first
registration was since the commission could
not produce their PVCs.
"This is an attempt to decimate our voting
population in Lagos, it is clear now, so
everyone who has the temporary voter's
card must hold it. Those who do not have
who only turned 18, we would provide a
means for them to participate in this
election".
He said he would observe how the
Commission managed the situation before
addressing residents further. Some
residents who had gathered at the ward
hoping to get their PVC were left to rue the
situation as some wondered if INEC with
the continuous hiccups is ready for the
polls.
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