January 25, 2018

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged politicians in the country not to take advantage of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to campaign.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mr. Emeka Ononamadu, gave the caution in Enugu on Thursday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“The government should play by the rules. You do not campaign under the guise of mobilisation when INEC has not lifted the ban on campaign.

“Government should continue to work towards realizing free, credible and transparent election and no one should position or look for undue advantage,” Ononamadu said.

The REC said that the government also had a role to play in order to guarantee credible polls, adding that they needed to play by the rules when mobilising the electorate for the CVR.

Ononamadu stressed the need for the electorate in the state to take the exercise more seriously.

He said that the exercise had provided an ample opportunity for residents of the state to take their destinies into their hands.

“The CVR is catching up well in Enugu State but we need to do better. People have started coming up in their numbers since the beginning of this year.

“I think Enugu people will need to buckle up. This is an ample opportunity that has been provided to citizens by INEC as required by law,” he said.

The REC said that the commission had been sensitizing the electorates on the need to register in order to perform their civic responsibilities.

According to him, we used the yuletide to reach out to people in rural areas as well as in churches.

Ononamadu noted that people were beginning to have a renewed confidence in the electoral umpire due to its excellent conducts in recent outings.

He said that the exercise had been violent free in the state, adding that it was continuous and would stop 60 days before any general election according to the law.

“When we started people were not too sure whether it was going to work or not but today they have seen that INEC is serious in terms of implementing its entire statutory mandate,” he said.

Ononamadu, however, said that it was sad that people were still suspecting whether or not their vote would count.

“I wonder what gave them that illusion because INEC had demonstrated in strong terms and statements that we are here to protect the mandate of Nigerians and that is what we shall do,” he said.

He said that the commission had intensified efforts to sensitise residents of the state with a view to either registering or picking up their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

He said that the state had 1.6 million voting strength based on the ongoing registration, adding that about 127, 000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) had yet to be collected.