The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Rivers, Gabriel Yomere, has appealed to stakeholders to work together to increase voter registration in the state.

Mr Yomere made the remark during a stakeholders’ meeting held in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

The commissioner stated that in spite of registering 67,367 new voters since August 18, Rivers still lagged behind other states in the federation.

He expressed gratitude to the security agencies for ensuring a peaceful registration process across the local government areas of the state.

He noted that some stakeholders had called for registration to be taken to wards and polling units, but explained that this was not feasible.

He added that the INEC headquarters was aware of the situation and would address it.

Mr Yomere appealed to political party stakeholders, community leaders, religious leaders, civil society organisations, and influencers to support the registration drive by sensitising their followers on the importance of voter registration.

The commissioner emphasised that the goal was to ensure that at least 95 per cent of eligible voters in Rivers were registered, and urged all stakeholders to work together to achieve this target.

He also encouraged citizens to take advantage of the continuous voter registration exercise.

He further appealed to everyone to work collectively toward achieving a result that Rivers could be proud of.

The Commissioner of Police, Rivers command, Olugbenga Adewole, emphasised that election security was a collective responsibility.

According to him, every citizen has a role to play in ensuring that the electoral process is protected from any form of breach or impediment.

Mr Adewole, represented by CSP James Njoku, explained that election security involved protecting voters, candidates, polling officers, media, election observers, and electoral materials from harm or damage.

He cited the Constitution of 1999, the Electoral Act 2022, and other regulations as the framework guiding election security in Nigeria.

Mr Adewole noted that security personnel would be deployed during the election process to ensure that elections were conducted in a free, fair, and credible manner.

He urged citizens to report any information about potential electoral malpractices to security agencies and to advise their family members and relations to refrain from engaging in activities that could compromise the electoral process.

He added that citizens should make every effort to protect high-net facilities and prevent vandalism, warning that they should not “incubate rotten eggs” by harbouring individuals with malicious intentions.

The commissioner expressed confidence that if citizens worked together, they could bring about positive change in the state before, during, and after the 2027 election.

However, the chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Rivers, Nnanna Onyekwere, called on INEC to take voter registration to wards and communities to increase participation.

Ms Onyekwere noted that the current registration exercise, which began in August, had yielded only 63,621 new registrations, attributing the low turnout in part to inadequate sensitisation of rural communities by INEC.

He suggested that INEC should put more pressure on its national office to decentralise registration to wards and communities, thereby reducing transportation costs and encouraging more citizens to register.

The IPAC chairman also urged INEC to engage more with traditional rulers, religious leaders, and civil society organisations to strengthen voter-registration awareness.

Ms Onyekwere assured INEC of the support of political parties and stakeholders in the state.

Similarly, the Rivers INEC administrative secretary, Angela Ebhodaghe, disclosed that the first phase of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the state would end on December 10.

She said the preliminary register of voters would be displayed between December 15 and December 21 for claims and objections.

Ms Ebhodaghe announced that the second phase of the CVR would commence in January 2026 and urged stakeholders to work with INEC in mobilising eligible citizens to register.

She thanked stakeholders for their contributions and assured them that their concerns and comments would be escalated for further directives and action.

She also reminded all those who had either registered or transferred their polling units during the first phase of the CVR to take full advantage of the display of the preliminary voters’ register.

She said the register would be displayed between December 15 and December 21 to confirm that their records were correctly captured before printing.

(NAN)