2019 elections: Abia INEC REC assures residents of fairness

May 21, 2018 

By Ijendu Iheaka

Dr Joseph Iloh, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abia State has promised to conduct a free and fair elections in Abia state in 2019 to enthrone peace and progress.

Iloh who said that “a badly conducted election could result in war and anarchy” promised that Abia would not experience such in his time.

The INEC REC made this disclosure while speaking in a political programme on radio “Ka M Kwuo” at the Abia State Broadcasting Corporation (BCA) monitored in Aba on Monday.

“We know the problem of our people. They find it hard to leave their businesses to go and register.

“But we are asking them to tell us where and when they gather in good numbers and we will come there with our machines to register them.

“What they fear is that their votes do not count but I promise that in Abia this time, their votes will be counted, recorded as it is and the results announced as it is.

“We are begging our clerics to encourage our people to go register for elections because the clerics are respected and once they open their mouth to tell their members to go and register, they will go. 

“Our people should know that anybody who has no Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and is not willing to get one is not a friend of the community and people who do not vote have no good plans for their community”, Iloh said.

The REC said that INEC in Abia state was targeting registering about two million voters but noted that it had only registered 310,000 voters since the continuous registration began in 2017.

He said that the commission had received 87, 068 Permanent Voters’ Cards from the exercise and enjoined residents who registered during this period to collect their PVCs at their LG headquarters.

Iloh vowed to sack any INEC staff in the state who asks for “money for fuel” from anybody who came to register adding that registration under any circumstance is free.

He urged Abia residents to report any such demand for money from them to his office in order to punish the offender.

He called on registered voters who have lost their PVCs to log on to the internet using the following INEC portal address register.www.voterreg.inecnigeria.org to check their names in order to get a replacement.