THE on-going electronic voters registration exercise has been described as a ploy by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the country to rig next year�s election.
Making this claim in Port Harcourt yesterday at a briefing while reacting to the near absence of the exercise in the state and other states in the region, the ANPP called on the Federal Government to stop the use of the machines for the exercise if the numbers required to cater for the voting population cannot be provided.
The party�s National Vice Chairman, South South, Hon Iko Awaji Asukewe who spoke,wondered why only thirty two machines were provided for Rivers State when the electoral body says it needs over one thousand for the four hundred and forty one polling boots in the state.
The sad thing according to him, was that the Commission had allocated the few available machines to the wards of chieftains of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party rather than deploy them to designated polling boots for use by the teeming electorate.
Stressing that the exercise was another strategy to manipulate next year�s election in favour of the ruling party the Vice Chairman, South South of the ANPP called for the immediate sack of Professor Maurice Iwu as the INEC under him had started failing. He said his party would not fold its arm to allow the bitter experience of 2003 repeat itself.
He said if the Federal Government fails to heed the call to redress the problems with the exercise, the party would have no choice but to use the court to stop it.
Earlier at a meeting between the party and the state INEC Commissioner, where the later confronted the Commission with its observations, the Commission Chairman, Chief Roland Uwa said efforts were on to address the problem. He said the state INEC would take delivery of more machines soon. Dismissing as untrue claims that machines were sent to the homes of PDP chieftains in the state the INEC boss said what they did was to send one machine to each local government area in the state.
Continuing, he urged the various parties to send their agents to the various electoral officers to monitor how the exercise is going on. This he noted would reduce remours around the exercise.