Voters registration: Enugu residents angry over faulty INEC machines

Enugu residents, who came out yesterday to register in the ongoing voters registration were angry as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) machines deployed for the exercise wobbled in most of the centres.
When Daily Sun visited some of the registration centres in the state, the people who turned out in their large numbers, were seen waiting patiently as INEC officials and some council workers battled to fix the machines.
Most of the machines had battery, cord or thumb-printing problems, making the ad hoc INEC staff manning them to frequently shut down which made the process to be slow.
At Ward 11 in Okpara Square, Independence Layout, over 500 people, who were seen sitting at the pavilion complained that the registration was going on at a snail’s speed.
The INEC  arrowhead at the centre, Mr Noah Nongo, a member of the  National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), told Daily Sun that they could only register 39 persons on Wednesday when the exercise began because their machine had low battery problem.
He also said that they were slow yesterday as the crowd that came out were becoming restless, making them to register only 21 persons by 11:15a.m when Daily Sun visited the ward.
A councillor in Enugu North Local Government Area, Catherine Ayogu, said that over 1,000 persons came out on Wednesday to register, but there was only one machine.
She said that she had to go to her council to get an additional machine yesterday, saying that they needed at least six machines to be able to register all the people before the exercise ends on June 1.
In the Nkanu-West Council Area, the story was the same, but the INEC official, Mrs Ifenna Onoh, who spoke to newsmen at Community Secondary School, Obinagu Uwani Akpugo, Akpugo Ward 1, said they had overcome the initial challenge they had on day one.
Worse hit was the Enugu North Senatorial zone where the PDP hopes a new governor would emerge from in 2015.
All the six council areas of the zone visited yesterday, had challenges of machine errors and other technical hitches.
The state Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Vita Abba, said yesterday in Nsukka that: “What happened in our zone, Nsukka, was very distressing on Wednesday. The facilities were not functioning across the six local government areas. In very few instances, where they functioned, some of the INEC personnel did not seem to be in tune with the machines.
“But having said that, I must commend INEC staff for their readiness and promptness to respond to the distress call.”
At Umulolo Ward in Igbo-Eze LGA where the council chairman, Hon Festus Ozioko hails from only five persons were able to register on Wednesday when hundreds had come out for the exercise.