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Police prosecutor, Francis Udofia, told the court that on January 19, one Simi Maikasuwa of Karu village reported to the police that while she was on queue during the voters’ registration exercise at ECWA Church in the area, the accused brought out his male organ and pressed it against her buttocks and in the process released sperm thereby staining her cloth...

The prosecutor said the accused confessed to the crime during police investigations and contravened Section 285 of the Penal Code...

When the charge was read to the accused, he pleaded guilty and pleaded for leniency, while the prosecutor asked the court to try him summarily.

Senior Magistrate Sharon Ishaya Godwin found the accused guilty of indecency and convicted him to 10 days imprisonment or to pay N1,000 as fine option.

Three persons were killed in central Nigeria on Monday when soldiers opened fire to quell a fight between Christian and Muslim youth over voter registration for April elections, police and witnesses said.

Soldiers opened fire at a secondary school being used as a voter registration centre in the city of Jos after a group of Christian youth tried to prevent Muslim electoral commission officials from delivering voting materials, witnesses said.

Schools across Nigeria have been closed for the voter registration exercise, which began on Saturday, and there were no children at the venue at the time.

“We tried to pacify them but they grew wild,” Plateau State police commissioner, Abdulrahman Akano told reporters..

“They started stoning the soldiers and the soldiers had no choice than to open fire on them in self-defence,” he said, adding that two of the youth were killed by the gunfire.

One electoral official was lynched and burned, bringing the death toll to three, while two soldiers were wounded, a spokesman for a joint military and police taskforce said.

Plateau State, of which Jos is the capital, lies in the Middle Belt where the mostly Muslim north meets the largely Christian south. It has seen years of ethnic tensions and is a major potential flashpoint ahead of the April elections.

The latest unrest brings the death toll in and around Jos to more than 100 since Christmas, when there were a series of bomb blasts and subsequent clashes in the city.

Some members of the Christian community have accused the security forces of backing the mostly Muslims Hausa-Fulani ethnic group during the unrest. The rank-and-file of the army are from both religions but senior officers stationed in the region are predominantly Muslim, they say. The military denies the accusations.

Hundreds of people died in fighting between Muslim and Christian mobs in the Middle Belt a year ago and there have been frequent outbreaks of violence since then.

The tension is rooted in decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist, who are vying for control of fertile farmlands and for economic and political power with migrants and settlers from the north.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the southern Niger Delta, won the ruling party primary last week and is considered the frontrunner in the presidential race on April 9. But his candidacy is controversial because of an agreement in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that power should rotate between the north and the south every two terms, a rhythm which his victory would interrupt.

His main election rivals are all northerners and there are fears that the national debate could become polarised around north-south rivalries, potentially leading to further election-related violence in the Middle Belt and other areas.

REUTERS

The Independent National Electoral Commission, last Tuesday evening, discovered four voter registration centres deep inside the Nziko forest at Nteje in Anambra State. The deputy governor of Anambra State, Emeka Sibeudu and the state resident electoral commissioner, Chukwuemeka Onukogu, led the team that made the discovery based on security reports made available to the governor, Peter Obi.

The REC said it was painful to discover four centres serving no one in the middle of a thick forest when there were not enough machines for potential voters in places like Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi, Adazi, and Agulu. The centres, located within the vicinity of a shrine, are at least a 40-minute drive from the nearest residential area. It was discovered that the registration officers, mainly National Youth Service Corps members sat idly, looking at the machines, with no one in sight to register.

The deputy governor who expressed his shock at the location of the registration centres said: “We have shortfalls in machines. But in the forest here, there are four machines lying idle. All the people we met here are not up to 10. But if you go to some other places, you will find thousands of people waiting to be registered. This, I can assure you, is part of the rascality of the past which the present government under Mr. Peter Obi is trying hard to stamp out of the state.”

According to him, these kinds of registration centres were used to commit electoral fraud.

In his reaction the resident electoral commissioner, Mr. Onukogu, said he had only heard of these types of voting centres.

“Today I have seen one,” he said. “I am sad that there are four machines wasting here, whereas there are no machines in Onitsha, Eke Awka, Ozubulu, Nnewi and parts of Anaocha where thousands of people are waiting to be registered.”

He said the four centres put together had registered only about 200 voters since the exercise started 10 days ago, when the same machines would have registered many people had they been located in densely populated areas..

“The irregular location of the centres also poses grave risks to the registration officers and the machines. How will I evacuate men and machines in the event of danger?” Mr. Onukogu asked.

He alleged that the centres must have been secured by an influential politician from the area. He said he would take away three machines and leave one behind. But he added that he would need to meet with the registration officials on the matter in his office before taking action. But Mr. Onukogu admitted that he was constrained by the fact that the “floating registration centres” deep in the forest were documented from the Abuja headquarters of INEC and assured it would be corrected.

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Tuesday evening, discovered four voter registration centres in Nziko forest, at Nteje in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The deputy governor of the state, Mr Emeka Sibeudu and the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Chukwuemeka Onukogu, led the team that made the discovery, acting on security reports made available to the governor, Mr Peter Obi.

Professor Onukaogu said it was "painful to discover four centres serving nobody in the middle of a thick forest when there were no enough machine for potential voters in places like Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi, Adazi, Agulu and others."

The REC said "I have heard of floating/flying polling booths. Today, I have seen one. I am sad that there are four machines wasting here, whereas there are no machines in Onitsha, Eke Awka, Ozubulu, Nnewi and parts of Anaocha, where thousands of people are waiting to be registered."

The centres, which took 40 minutes drive to access from the nearest residential area in Nteje, were located within the vicinity of a shrine with the registration officers, mainly corps members, virtually doing nothing, as there were no potential voters in sight.

The four centres together had registered only about 200 voters since the exercise started 10 days ago, while the irregular location of the centres also posed a risk to the registration officers and the machines.

He said he would take away three machines and leave one behind, adding that he would need to meet with the registration officials on the matter in his office before taking action.

The deputy governor expressed shock at the discovery, saying "we have shortfalls in machines but in the forest here, there are four machines lying idle. All the people we met here are not up to 10. But if you go to some other places, you will find thousands of people waiting to be registered.

Registration of voters is to begin in January next year. Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), confirmed this yesterday in Abuja.

The registration, which was earlier billed for November 1 to 14, was moved after the commission requested for the extension of elections next year, prompting the National Assembly to effect a fresh alteration of the Constitution to allow for the shift...

Waiting for legislative approval

With the amendment concluded last week, the commission said it is awaiting the mandatory approval of at least 24 states legislature, which will put the amendments to use, before announcing a new timetable that will include specific new dates for the registration.

After passage last week at the federal level, lawmakers dispatched the altered sections to the 36 states Houses of Assembly for the required concurrence. Routine public hearings are expected at the states early this week and a final passage by next week.

Mr. Jega said the commission will “not pre-empt” the near-certain favourable outcome of the states’ voting, and will only make public its new timetable, after the final passage has been secured.

However, the registration of voters, which is central to the polls, the INEC boss confirmed on Monday, will hold in January, to allow time for corrections that may be needed, and also a final display of the register before the elections scheduled for April.

No time to waste

“We are taking the registration very seriously. Once we have controversy with the register, we are done, and there cannot be credibility anymore on the entire process,” he said.

Thousands of temporary staff are to be recruited and trained to run the over 120,000 units of the Direct Data Capture machines required for the registration of an estimated 70 million voters.

Ahead of the procurement of the machines, the commission yesterday kicked off a four-day training for the bulk of its officials - called the Master Trainers - who in turn will train and supervise the casual officers.

Speaking through a representative, the national commissioner in charge of training, Lai Olurode, said that the yet-to-be awarded contract for the machines, which many Nigerians have raised concerns about, would not in any way hamper the process.

Fears have been expressed in several quarters over the delay in the award of contracts for the supply of the data capture machine, which is a crucial aspect of the success of the registration of voters.

He said the commission “has completed everything in relation” with the purchase of the machines, and that INEC was confident about their timely delivery.

Mr. Jega’s spokesperson, Kayode Idowu, had earlier assured NEXT the document would be signed this week.