Police arrest INEC officials who used Church as registration centre

Three officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were on Friday arrested by the Lagos State police command for carrying out Voters registration centre at a church.

The INEC staff identified as Mr Ikechukwu Izuchukwu and Miss Agbokhna Ebigun, were arrested after residents of Ijeshatedo, Surulere, Lagos, raised an alarm.

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SP Benjamin Hundeyin, Spokesman of the Lagos state police command, in a series of tweets confirmed the arrest of the INEC officials, saying they were found within the church premises registering members.

He said, “The INEC officials were assigned to Imam Thanni Street by House 9A for today’s exercise. They were, however, found within the church premises. Residents raised concerns and informed the police. The DPO Ijeshatedo swung into action and brought the INEC officials to the station.

“Preliminary findings show that a resident of the area who volunteered to transport the officials from their office to the center was responsible for the mix-up, deliberate or not, further investigation will reveal. Meanwhile, the officials were immediately released to proceed to the correct center to continue their assignment.”

Daily Trust had reported how some hoodlums, on Friday, stormed the church and disrupted the voter registration exercise.

The exercise was about to commence at the church when the hoodlums, said to be about 50 in number, broke in.

They were said to have seized the registration equipment and assaulted some INEC officials. Some persons who tried to resist them were also attacked.

Reacting to the development, INEC’s Public Relations Officer in Lagos state, Mrs Adenike Oriowo told NAN that though the exercise was disrupted, no machine was stolen.

“There were issues in the said CVR centre but orderliness was restored and the exercise continued smoothly. We have moved the registration in that centre to another polling unit in the area, and our officials have continued with the registration.

“People should be patient. We shall register as many people as possible. If people continue to disrupt the process, the opportunity to register more people before the deadline will be interrupted. Our commitment is to register as many people as possible and we will try to do so within the limited time,” the INEC spokesperson said.

Oriowo, who frowned at the last-minute rush by many applicants, said the exercise had been on since June 2021 and many people did not take the advantage but waited till the deadline.

INEC has fixed July 31 as the deadline for Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise. In order to beat the deadline, there has been a rush at registration centres across the nation.