Theft of INEC equipment aborts voters’ registration in Rivers

THEFT of INEC equipment for the ongoing voters’ registration, has aborted registration of new voters in Emohua Local Council in Rivers, Mr Aniedi Ikoiwak, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), has said,

A statement, signed by Dr Richard Ntui the commission’s Administrative Secretary, quoted Ikoiwak as saying that urgent steps would be taken to ensure continuation of the exercise within the stipulated period.

The statement was issued to newsmen on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.

It said that Direct-Data Capturing Equipment was carted away when the secretariat of Emohua Local Government Council where INEC office is situated was burgled.

Ikoiwak assured the public especially the registrants that no data was lost in the theft as all the data captured since the commencement of the exercise was backed up in the commission’s server.

“In addition, the CVR (Continuous Voters, Registration) exercise will continue as soon as new DDC machines were configured for the council,’’ he said.

Ikoiwak, who had already inspected the burgled office, urged INEC staff not to be discouraged by the incident.

He advised the management of the council to boost security to avoid re-ocurrence of the incident.