The traditional ruler of Calabar Municipal
Council, Thomas Ika-Ika Oqua, has appealed to the Independent National
Electoral Commission to ensure that the problem of missing names from
the voters’ register is corrected before the presidential election this
weekend.
Mr Oqua who was a victim said he was denied his
vote due to the inability of the INEC ad hoc staff to trace his name on
the voter register.
Although he verified his registration when the
register was displayed ahead of the April polls, and has a voter’s
card, he could not find his name last Saturday when he filed out to
vote alongside his subjects at Big Qua Town.
Frantic efforts by the ad hoc staff and senior
officials of INEC to ascertain what happened were futile as all the
registers on the table did not bear his name. A search in nearby
polling units turned up no results, forcing him to leave the polling
station disappointed.
This is by no means a unique case, as many
eligible voters in Calabar have complained that their names are also
missing from the voters’ register.
The traditional ruler blamed INEC for the missing
names. “It is absurd that I cannot find my name in the voters’ register
after INEC had duly got me registered. Will a personality of my status
lie that I did not register? Let INEC do something about this anomaly,”
he said.
Praise for Jega
He nonetheless commended the electoral body for
conducting a free and fair National Assembly election last weekend and
implored the commission to continue with the same spirit as it conducts
the upcoming national elections.
According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan has
made good his promise of ‘one man, one vote’ and written his name in
gold as Nigeria’s sitting president who did not rig elections for his
party and self despite having the power to do so.
Likewise, the Obong of Calabar, Ekpo Okon Abasi,
has congratulated Mr Jonathan on the transparent manner in which the
2011 elections are being conducted and urged him to stick to his
promise of leaving behind a legacy of transparent elections.
He asked the president not to dictate to INEC, as
the commission has demonstrated that it can conduct free and fair
elections and thus break the jinx of flawed elections in the country,
to the admiration of the international community.
