The Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC), Dr. Okey Sylvester Ezeani has described the extension in date for the forth coming general elections in the nation as “a blessing in disguise”.
The resident electoral commissioner made these remarks Thursday in Calabar during an interview with our Correspondence.
He said, “If the elections took place as earlier scheduled, it would have been a terrible thing. The extension is not only the issue of security, but much homework still needed to be done. The issues are not peculiar to Cross River State but across the federation.”
The REC who also reacted to speculations making the rounds that the presidency was responsible for the shift of the elections stressed that the shift is necessary to give the commission more time to prepare for the elections.
On the issue of Cross River PVCs found in Kebbi state, the REC said a similar situation also happened in, Imo, Borno and a few other states stressing, “it was not deliberate but could have been an administrative error”.
He however said that the cards which were found in Kebbi State are being expected today.
The certified Engineer and Economist of Harvard University assured the Government and people of Cross River State that he will conduct a transparent and credible election which will stand the test of time.
The REC said the collection of PVCs in Cross River had so far been encouraging. “The percentage of cards collected had reached 80 percent based on the cards we received last week. But this percentage droped to 74 percent when we received more”
A breakdown of cards collected in the state so far shows that Yakurr, Boki, Bekwara, Local Government Areas topping the list in the collections while Bakassi Local Government is the least as at the time of this report.
The REC urged the people of Cross River State to come out en-masse to collect their cards and urged them not to sell the cards stressing that such will amount to selling their franchise.
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