On Wednesday, residents of Owerri, the capital of the state of Imo, lamented the difficulties they were encountering with the registration and revalidation of Permanent Voters Cards.
Residents who were visibly enraged demanded that the Independent National Electoral Commission extend the deadline for the exercise so that they could register.
Those who spoke to the media at the INEC registration and revalidation centre in Owerri said they had not been able to register despite having been there for over a week.
Hundreds of people waited to be registered at Assumpta Catholic Church in Owerri, which had six registration and revalidation centres.
But most of the people said that the system was malfunctioning, calling on the electoral umpire to deploy more equipment and staff to the place.
A woman who identified herself as Grace Madu said, “for one week now, I have been coming without being successful. It is either the systems are malfunctioning or the crowd is so much that the INEC staff can’t be able to attend to all the people. There should be an improvement, please. I hope this is not a plot to disenfranchise us from the 2023 general election. If it is possible let the June 30 deadly be extended.”
Another person, Kingsley One, said, “I came all the way from Naza for this registration but the processes are frustrating. I want to have my PVC so that I can vote in 2023. They should extend the deadline if they can’t register all of us before the June 30 deadline.”
For a civil servant, Chukwudi Kings, he was getting tired of the process because he had not been able to be captured since three days that he had been visiting the centre.
He said, “I am calling on INEC to extend the deadline for this exercise. From what is obtainable, we can’t meet up before the deadline. We have been taking permission from our offices to enable us to get captured but to no avail. Let the deadline be extended.”
The Director of Voter Education for INEC in the state, Mrs Emmanuella Opara, who was seen on the ground, told our correspondent that the Commission had created more units to enable people to get captured.
Opara said that from four units, the Commission had made it six so as to fasten the process.
She said, “We have created two more units to come up to six units at this centre. At the Headquarters, we now have eight registration units. We are doing our best to ensure that many people who are willing to register to get captured. We are giving preferences to the youths. We are registering as many of them that want to get captured.”