Kunle ADELABU
-Council Chairman solicits for a new centre at Ikorodu town hall
The Ikorodu Electoral Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that over 200 new voters are being registered daily.
The Electoral Officer, who made this revelation during the fact-finding visit paid to the Ikorodu INEC office by the traditional ruler of Ikorodu, His Royal Majesty, Oba Adewale Shotobi, the Ayangbure of Ikorodu, on Monday, July 9, 2018, also added that the electoral office also, on daily basis, issues out minimum of 40 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
In the royal father’s entourage were Hon. Wasiu Adesina, Chairman, Ikorodu Local Government, Otunba Ganiyu Abiru, Chairman, Ikorodu-Oga Development Association (IKODASS) and Alhaji Lateef Afinni, the Secretary to the Ikorodu Local Government among others.
“Averagely, we register over 200 people daily which is still one of the highest recorded on daily basis in Lagos State”, he said
‘We also distribute average of 40 new PVC daily.
“On Monday, July 2, we registered 203 people, 253 on Tuesday, 276 on Wednesday, 267 on Thursday, while we registered 228 on Friday.
“This is not a new registration exercise. What we are doing now is just an update to what we had in 2011. People are actually turning up and we are attending to them.
“We are only registering those just clocking 18; attending to those with lost PVC and those just moving into a new area and needing transfer.”
While reacting to the difficulty being faced by the people in accessing the INEC office in Ikorodu located within the Government Reserved Area (GRA), Ikorodu, the Electoral Officer called for the creation of access road for the office.
“The only way to solve people’s complaint about denial of access into the INEC office through the GRA is for the Ikorodu Local Government to create an access road for our office which will serve as an alternative route for people rather than coming through the GRA.
“The road, if created, would fence our office from the GRA and link us to the main road, whereby people can come in without being molested at any time.
“I learned that in 2015, our staff members were forced to carry their materials on their heads because GRA tenants prevented their buses from entering. I would not allow that for my staff members during the 2019 elections.
“2019 is around the corner, so, we should work towards preventing such act from repeating itself.
He also assured the Oba Shotobi and his team that his office is not facing any technical or shortage of materials.
He appealed to residents across Ikorodu division to go to the PVC Centres nearer to them instead of coming to the INEC Office.
Hon. Wasiu Adesina,while speaking during the visit, stated that the council is in talk with the GRA residents in resolving the impasse.
“I have been talking with the GRA residents through their Community Development Association (CDA) and we have been made to understand that they are concerned about the security of the environment, going by the influx of people to the INEC office.
“We have been told to provide two police officers and we are presently working on that.
“The Secretary to the Council would liaise with the CDA on the provision of security as requested. Once we are able to do that, the problem would be greatly solved and our people can have unhindered access to the INEC Office.
“We are doing that as temporary arrangement pending the time that we shall get necessary approval to create the access road to the INEC Office.
“I want to passionately appeal to INEC to decentralize the process of registering our people for PVC. We need to move it more closer to the people”, he appealed.
“We would appreciate if we can have another centre at Ikorodu Town hall for our people to register at least for one month. We are ready to work with you on this”, Hon. Adesina appealed.
Earluer, Oba Shotobi stated that the responses from the residents raised serious concerns that prompted the visit.
“Our concern is that we are still not getting as many people to register as we want because of the challenges being faced by the INEC Office in Ikorodu. This is the report we are getting”,Oba Shotobi stated.
“We are here on fact-finding mission to know what the challenges are.
“The information at our disposal is that you don’t have adequate materials to work with and that you are registering only about 20 people daily.
“We are targeting more registration in Ikorodu to prove our number. In Lagos State, we have between 22 to 24 million people and we are doing everything to prove these figures through national exercise like this.
“We have huge number of people living in Ikorodu and this is the only way for us to prove that”, Oba Shotobi stated.
