As many Nigerians make last minute efforts to register in the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s Voters Registration exercise, the process has been hampered in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital by inadequate machines to capture the data of the large crowds turning up for their Permanent Voters Cards PVCs.
Many prospective voters are therefore calling on the electoral body to create more registration centres and provide more machines so that they can be rescued from unscrupulous electoral staff who are taking advantage of the situation to do brisk business.
At the Onopa-Yenagoa Registration Centre of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC in the Bayelsa state capital, large number of persons, comprised mostly of youths were on ground for the exercise.
But the process is slow, leading to frustrations among some of them who say they have been waiting for days to get their PVCs.
The situation however took an unpleasant dimension when some angry applicants accused INEC officials at the centre of demanding gratification for registration, a claim that was immediately denied.
Close monitoring of events at the INEC registration centre in Yenagoa and other locations indicated that some eligible voters may give up hope of getting their PVCs due to the stress involved.
Editor Paul Akhagbemhe
