Boma Achenimie 
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has ordered the deployment of more voter registration machines to some centres in Edo State for the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
The INEC Chairman gave the directive on Thursday in Benin city when he visited some of the registration centres to access the ongoing exercise.
He lauded the massive turnout of the registration at different centres in the state, and assured of doing everything possible to make the process seamless.
Speaking at the registration centre located in Western Boys Secondary School, Ward 2, Ikpoba Okha LGA, Yakubu directed that two additional machines and Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, should be mobilised to the centre.
“The most important thing is for us to expedite the process. So what we have decided now is that tomorrow there will be two additional machines to this centre, to make it five machines.
“There are two queues. One is for registration, the other one is for transfer and collection of cards. So they are going to reorganise the queues. But I’ve seen the numbers here, and one of the solutions is to increase the number of machines to this centre,” he said.
Also at the INEC Ikpoba Okha LGA Office, Mr Yakubu directed that additional registration machines should be deployed to the centre, adding that the exercise at Eweka Primary School in Use Ward 3, Egor LGA.
Mr Yakubu warned staff of the commission against demanding for money before registering people who presented themselves for the exercise.
On observation that some political parties were trying to hijack the exercise in favour of their supporters, Mr Yakubu said that the commission would be meeting with the state commissioner of Police and other security agencies in the state to address the concern.
“My message consistently is that all the staff engaged in the registration, whether they are ad-hoc staff or regular staff, should know that no one should collect money from any Nigerian who comes to register or transfer or request for replacement of cards.
“This is a service paid for by the Federal Government and it must be respected. Where we catch any staff involved in this act, that staff will be dealt with, whether the staff is regular staff or ad-hoc staff,” Yakubu said.
