The youth wing of pan-igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) had showed its disapproval of the creation of additional 30,000 polling units in the country, by the chairman of the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega ahead of the 2015 general election, Vanguard reports.
The group called for the cancellation of the new polling units on the grounds that the 2006 national census, which brought about INEC’s decision was lopsided and inaccurate, demanding a fresh census as it said the census in Igboland was virtually non-existent as the atmosphere was not conducive for such in 2006.
In a statement signed by the group’s secretary general, Uzochukwu Uzochukwu and secretary of the board of trustees, Mazi Okwu Okwu said the exercise was crooked, saying the additional 21,000 units allotted to the north was unjustifiable and aimed at giving that geo-political zone undue advantage in the polls.
The statement read in parts: “It is appalling that the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, could descend so low as to play ethnic politics, especially the dictates of the Northern irredentists by using the highly flawed, controversial and contested census as a basis for polling units delineation. It is on records that the Igbos account most for the so-called Northern populations that have been erroneously used to give North more polling units.
“We the NEC of Ohanaeze Youth Council grievously strike out against the dubious undercurrents of INEC as electoral umpire in the allocation of polling units to geo-political zones in the country and accuse INEC of a premeditated attempt to rig the 2015 general elections.” especially the Presidential election in favour of the North,”
In conclusion, the group called for a fresh census that will show the true social indexes and assist in election planning, catering for all tribes, religions and cultural strata.
