Press Releases

Fashola Takes Campaign For Voters Registration To Members Of The Public
…Urges mass involvement in the electoral process to avoid past errors

Jan 10, 2011 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Monday took the campaign to ensure participation of all qualified residents in the forthcoming voters registration exercise to religious leaders, Community Development Associations, artisans, traditional rulers and opinion leaders urging them to be the first to get registered.

Governor Fashola who spoke at the massively attended flag off of Voters Education and Mobilization Campaign organized by the State Government at the Blueroof Hall Ikeja added that: "Our message therefore is every Lagosian must be registered first".

He added: "I trust that with your usual passion, commitment and purpose driven energies, we will all leave here today to start mobilization from our ministrations and sermons in our mosques and churches, from our various societies and groups to reach every house, every street, every ward and every Local Government".

Continuing, the Governor said: "We must start the mobilization through our community leaders, CDAs and CDC, Baales, Obas, leaders of opinion, market men and women, religious leaders to tell everybody that we must all be registered first".

Governor Fashola reiterated that the exercise which is billed to kick off on January 15 will take place in the various polling units close to the various areas used in the last elections and stressed that it will be the duty of everyone to find out the locations especially to those who did not vote before or who are going to be eligible for the first time.

He said for all the lifetime of Nigeria in her over fifty years of existence, people have repeatedly agonized about the absence of free and fair elections and its adverse effects on governance and lives generally.

The Governor added that papers have been written, rallies and symposia held and proffered solutions all to no avail, stressing that the reason is simple, "We have left the electoral process to those whose interest is served by its lack of transparency".

"At the times when it has always mattered most, at the times when elections are being planned, we have sadly not turned up to participate in sufficient numbers. We have somehow allowed the process to take place and get damaged before we react. It is like closing the stable after the horse has bolted. That is why our rallies, symposia, papers and solutions have not produced the desired developmental results in 50 years".

He explained that getting it right this time around informed part of the reason why the Government decided as one that understands the value and purpose of democracy to lead from the front through the advocacy programme to change a strategy and ensuring that everyone gets involved from the beginning.

"Therefore this consultative meeting will only help to set the agenda for what must be done and how it must be done. We must give life to those well researched papers and suggestions that you have written by practicalising the steps that need to be taken.

"We must be the agents of the change that we desire. Nobody will come to do it for us. It is in our hands to change what we do not accept. There is no mystery about free and fair elections. It is simply about people playing their part and standing up for what they believe", he said.

He told the gathering that the process is starting with the stakeholders because they were the ones who lit the fire of hope, prosperity and a brighter rewarding future by voting for the Action Congress of Nigeria in 2007 which formed the Government in Lagos that has become the reference and model for good governance for the country, "That fire is spreading across our country like wildfire".

The Lagos State helmsman charged that the stakeholders present deserve to be torchbearers of that flame to reach many people who identify with it, identifying some of those to be reached to include employers or employees and their families, landlord or tenants and their families.

"Others are your banker, your newspaper vendor, your taxi driver, your customers in your banks, restaurants, beer parlours, hotels, your students in school, your teachers in various institutions of learning, your church members, your mosque members, your club member in our various social clubs and so many of our friends, associates and relations that we have not taken participation in the electoral process with sufficiency of seriousness it deserves".

He warned that if the people fail to register they will give leeway for the cards to be available for diversion for illegal purposes which is one of the reasons why names like Bill Clinton and Mike Tyson cropped up at elections in Ekiti State.

He urged all those present to leave the venue with one resolve- which is to ensure that all those people mentioned are persuaded to register not only themselves, but their family members, friends and anybody that they have contact with anyone who is 18 years old and above, explaining that it was to underscore the importance attachéd to the problem that the weekly Executive Council meeting was suspended to flag off the process.

"The only way to ensure the continued transformation of our State and our lives is by our votes and anybody who wants to vote at the general elections must be registered first", he added

Giving a technical insight into the voters registration exercise, the Independent Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State, Dr Adekunle Ogunmola said INEC will provide a Data Capturing Machine for each of the more than 8465 polling units in the State in order to cater for unexpected occurrences.

He also informed that INEC has developed new registration software that will tackle many of the lingering challenges that had questioned the credibility of voters register in the past.

He added that INEC also plans to establish a Situation Report Room so that stakeholders can inform INEC about voters registration exercise problems as they develop and thus enable INEC to respond to issues as they arise.

Dr Ogunmola also said INEC has taken stock of some of the mistakes of the past and is already working to avoid same, saying more vehicles and boats have been procured as well as ensuring accurate listing of registration stations and timely distribution of registration materials.

The INEC boss said registration shall start daily at 9am and end at 5pm stressing that no person shall be accepted for registration after 5pm except those already on the queue before that time.

He said a person qualified for registration shall be expected to provide the following particulars- the registered voter's name, voter's age, mother's name, father's name, voter's sex, voter's occupation, address within the area, voter's number, voter's photograph, the name of the State where registration is taking place, name of Local Government area of registration, name and code of registration unit, voter's finger print and National Identity card number where available.

He said the body is resolved to prosecute people who engage in multiple registration adding that upon conviction, such a person would be liable to a fine of N100,000 and one year imprisonment.

He restated that the task of producing a credible register of voters and delivering a free, fair and credible election is a collective responsibility with all having a role to play.

In his message of goodwill, the former Governor of Lagos State Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was represented by his wife, Chief (Mrs) Oluremi Tinubu commended the Lagos State Government for the high mobilization of people for the programme.

In their goodwill message,s the Chief Imam of Lagos, Alhaji Akinola Ibrahim and the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Lagos Chapter, Monsignor Okoduwa pleaded with the Muslims and Christians of voting age to go out and vote during the registration exercise, urging them to avoid thuggery during the exercise.

They both thanked the Governor for the leadership which he is offering in Lagos State and urged everyone to ensure a continuation of the provision of the dividends in the State by ensuring that they register to vote.

The programme was attended by Deputy Governor, Princess Sarah Adebisi Sosan, members of the State Executive Council, traditional rulers, religious leaders, community leaders, artisans, market men and women, civil rights groups, non-governmental agencies and other groups.