Bamigbetan charges INEC on more machines, personnel to ease voter’s registration exercise
By Felix Kuyinu
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Kehinde Bamigbetan, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide more machines and personnel to ease the rigour experienced by the electorate at registration centres in Ejigbo and its environs.
While addressing members of a political group, The Mandate Movement (TMM) in a meeting at his residence in Ejigbo, Bamigbetan said that hundreds of enthusiastic citizens mobilized by the group to register were discouraged by the hardship encountered at the centres.
He said that the hardship was unnecessary and avoidable provided more machines and personnel could be deployed to meet the surge that the advocacy for registration has created.
“If INEC lacks the funds to purchase more machines, it should seek aid from state and federal agencies which appreciate the importance of this civic responsibility.
“The members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) can be mobilized as ad-hoc staff. I am appealing to INEC to think outside the box. A situation in which two machines are serving thousands of willing registrants in Ejigbo is certainly not advisable.”
Bamigbetan also called on INEC to make use of the Community Development Associations (CDAs) to distribute cards in its possession.
“Our CDAs are legally registered entities with authority over specific number of streets and households. They can act as agents of INEC in distributing the cards to the owners. The current system of waiting for them to come is not delivering results,” he said.
The erstwhile Chairman of Ejigbo LCDA also urged participants at the meeting to ensure that the All Progressives Congress (APC) plan to expand its membership is executed to the letter, adding that the directive of the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu reiterated by Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode recently is a task that must be accomplished.
He however thanked the members for their support of the APC government at federal, state and local government levels, assuring them that all the electioneering pledges would be fulfilled.
Also at the event, the Executive Chairman, Ejigbo LCDA, Hon. Monsuru Bello, commended the state and the local governments for the successful completion of Ona-Iwa Mimo Street, which has been handed to the government for commissioning, adding that many road projects are still on the board.
