Nsukka protests missing voters register

The recent declara­tion by the Inde­pendent National Electoral Commis­sion of the missing voters register of Nsukka Local government Area is brew­ing tensiongenerating some heat in the area. According to the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Enugu State, Dr Law­rence Azubuike, the vot­ers registers of 230 polling units out of 280 in Nsukka were declared missing as they were erased from the data bank of INEC. The Concerned Nuskka Professionals, through its lawyer, Victor Opara, is protesting what it termed the de-registration of its people, which it says is ‘totally unacceptable.” In this direction, the electoral body is calling for re-registration, which the group is opposed to, because it says, law does not back it up. It queried why no officials have been summoned for question­ing and noted political undertone over the issue. In a petition to the Resi­dent Electoral Commission­er, Enugu State, entitled, “Alleged Disappearance of Voters Register: Re-registra­tion of Voters Exercise; Ille­gality Thereof.” the profes­sional group, noted that the missing/ erased voters regis­ter “shows crass negligence, unpardonable careless and excruciating administrative recklessness, which should not be cordoned at all par­ticularly in view of the fact that the INEC has a legal and moral duty to keep re­cords of voters register safe. “The re-registration, which INEC is proposing might be juicy ingredi­ent or recipe for the chal­lenge of the legality or otherwise of any election conducted on the threshold of the erased voters register. “ We will not stand hands in akimbo and watch help­less as our rights are be­ing infringed upon with perhaps reckless impunity. “Consequently, we urge you to most respectfully to take proactive steps aimed at recovering the missing vot­ers register or be prepared for unsettling legal battles.” The group noted that the disappearance of the voters register gives room for seri­ous suspicion and might cre­ate restiveness in the area. It queried, “ In this age of technological advance­ment… how voters registers in 230 polling units myste­riously disappeared from the system it was stored; why no back up for the voters register; how come only voters registers of some areas are missing and not the entire voters regis­ter, and what happened to the printed voters cards?”