Osun voter registration ends

The voter registration by the  Independent National Electoral Commission ended in Osun State  on Monday.

The Chief Public Affairs Officer of INEC in Osun State, Mrs. Adenike Tadese, said in an interview with our correspondent in Osogbo on Monday that the registration  would not be extended.

There has been speculations that the commission would extend the exercise because of the hitches suffered in the first two days of the registration  exercise but the commission said that the exercise would not be extended.

The Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, called on the INEC to extend the registration exercise.

He said that the exercise was disrupted in some areas which prevented some people from registering.

He also said that some of the irregularities which the party observed could mar the election if not corrected.

The statement read, “ The APC in Osun State is calling  on INEC to extend for a few more days the registration exercise because it had been substantially disrupted and disallowed many prospective voters from registering.

“From day one of the exercise, the PDP had disrupted the exercise in several registration centres  accross the state even up till today (Monday), the last day of the exercise, they still created crisis at Ede, in the Ede North Local Government Area of the state.

“The APC has known long before now that the PDP had a strategic plan to employ violence as a means of intimidation to scare away supporters of the APC from voting in the August 9 governorship election and this it has successively done in good measure for the better part of the exercise so far.

“In the interest of justice and fairplay, all those centres affected by the PDP violence should at least be opened for a few more days with the protection of the security forces to allow those who have been prevented from the exercise to duly register and collect their voter cards.”

But the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Mr. Bola Ajao, when contacted on the telephone by our correspondent, said that although the initial hiccups in the exercise discouraged some people from participating in the registration, he said the number of such people was insignificant.