As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) displayed names of prospective eligible registered voters, some Nigerians have cried foul of the system, over exclusion of their names from the register in Jos.
This was disclosed in an interview with some aggrieved people at the INEC area office in Jos North local government Area, Plateau state.
Ms. Aisha Muhammad said she had personally pre-registered online and went to the Plateau state headquarters of INEC, where she was captured.
“My younger brother, Salisu and I, have pre-registered online, we further went to the state headquarters and our thumprint were captured. Here with us are our slip, but we are told at the Ward center where names were first displayed that were not on the list.
“They told us that we were not registered and we do not have PVC. We came here and rechecked and we met the same thing,” she said.
She said their fundamental rights to be registered as citizens was flagrantly denied and violated, “INEC want to disenfranchise us,” she said.
“We are thinking of getting a lawyer who will help us take INEC to court, so that we can be registered,” she threatened.
Mr. Samuel Joseph, expressed similar complaint, saying it was surprising to him that his name and other members of his family were all missing on the INEC list.
“It is unfortunate, that our names were not on the list already displayed, we were properly captured during the registration exercise.
“We spent a lot of time and money for us to captured, but it appears to us that INEC is denying us our fundamental rights.
“…the best for us now is to call on INEC to give us our rights, or we may be thinking of going to court,” he threatened.
The state chapter chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Hon. Dogara Abubakar, said it was unfortunate eligible Nigerians to have been denied such rights.
“We are calling on INEC to revisit its portal to ensure that those whose names were not listed and have completed all processes are listed,” he said.
But the electoral officer, in the Local Government Area, Mr. Ogboji Frederick Eche, said on the phone, that the umpire has done its best to register Nigerians.
“May be, some of those people have registered twice, or they did not complete their pre-registration.
He said such people that have completed their registration, but could not see thier names should come to their office so that they could be helped to check in the INEC system,” he said.
