From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has charged all eligible voters in Anambra State to shun all forms of illegalities and unethical behaviour that will jeopardize the credibility of the forthcoming governorship election.
The INEC National Commissioner for South East Zone, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, made the call at the end of his supervisory and evaluation tour of Anambra State on Monday in Awka. He said that the ongoing continuous voter registration in the 326 wards was to afford every eligible voter an opportunity to obtain the Permanent Voters Card.
He also stated that anybody without the voters’ card has no business getting near the polling centres on Election Day and warned that anybody who acts contrary would be making his way to jail.
He said: “I had to personally come here to ensure that the registration exercise at the ward level is being carried out as specified by the commission, because we do not want to create any gap that would hinder the success of the election’’.
Ibeanu explained that the commission moved the registration exercise from local government areas to ward registration which according to him started on August 10 to August 15 to ensure that no vacuum was created.
He said INEC will publish the voters register from August 15 to 20 in all registration centres for voters to cross check their names for the final compilation of the voters register.
Ibeanu said he visited a number of registration centres in four local governments with concentration in Onitsha and environs due to the strategic nature of the city and was impressed that there was a large turnout of people in the areas visited. He appealed to eligible voters yet to get their permanent voter cards to do so.