By Izunna Okafor, Awka
The leadership of students in Nigeria, under the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Anambra State chapter, has called for the immediate removal of the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), over what they described as gross incompetence and deliberate suppression of students in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the state.
The students, who made the demand during a press briefing in Awka on Thursday, accused the REC of orchestrating the exclusion of students from the exercise through intentional administrative bottlenecks and inadequate deployment of personnel and registration machines to tertiary institutions in the state.
Speaking on behalf of the students, the NANS Chairman in Anambra, Comrade Mathew Okpala, specifically lamented that the number of registration machines deployed to higher institutions in the state was not only grossly inadequate but also suspiciously calculated to disenfranchise students ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
“At Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, INEC deployed only one machine. The same thing happened at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam. What is even more ridiculous is that the officials posted there were registering only five persons per day,” Okpala lamented.
He described the situation as a coordinated neglect of students, which he alleged to be politically motivated and influenced by desperate politicians through the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state.
“We reliably gathered that this arrangement was politically engineered by desperate political actors to suppress students’ participation in the election. The Anambra REC is aiding this and must be recalled immediately,” he fumed.
The student leader also faulted INEC’s decision to allocate only ten days for the CVR exercise in Anambra State, while other states like Edo, Ondo, and Osun reportedly enjoyed up to 20 days of registration period.
He insisted that the short period given to Anambra was discriminatory, unacceptable, and a clear attempt to suppress voters, particularly the student population in the state. He further noted that the 3-day extension announced by INEC for the exercise in the state is a mockery and insignificant vis-a-vis number of eligible persons yet to be registered in the state.
“We totally reject the ten-day window given to us, and even the additional three days recently announced is insignificant. How can three days address the backlog when they were registering only five persons per day in some schools? That’s a mockery,” Okpala queried.
While pleading with the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to intervene and ensure that more machines and personnel are deployed to tertiary institutions in the state, the students also demanded an additional 10-day extension to enable comprehensive registration of students.
He warned that if INEC failed to meet their demands within 48 hours, the student body would not hesitate to mobilize a massive statewide protest that would shut down major roads and INEC offices in Anambra State until the “anomalies” are addressed.
“These are our demands, and we are waiting. After 48 hours, if these demands are not met, we will launch a statewide protest, shutting down major roads and INEC offices in Anambra until our voices are heard,” he declared.
Some of the Students Union Government Presidents from various tertiary institutions in Anambra State were present at the press briefing, where they unanimously condemned the alleged conspiracy to disenfranchise students and other eligible voters in the state.
