Anambra poll: INEC assures albinos of vision magnifiers

From the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has come an assurance that registered voters who are suffering from albinism will have the opportunity to vote during the forthcoming governorship poll in Anambra State with the aid of vision magnifiers.
The Anambra State governorship election is scheduled to hold on Saturday November 18 this year.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, stated this on Thursday when he played host to the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) in Abuja.
Yakubu explained that the move is to enable the albinos to properly identify the logos of political parties in the ballot paper while casting their votes.
According to him, magnifying glasses would be provided to albinos at all the polling units in the state.
He said this would fast-track the voting process at polls and called on all albinos in the state to ensure that they participate fully in the exercise.
His words, “One of the things we introduced in the forthcoming Anambra election based on representation from the association of those living with albinism is the provision of magnifying glasses at the polling units to enable them see the logos of the parties and make their choices.
“We have made provision for magnifying glasses in all the polling units in Anambra on November 18,” he said.
Prof Yakubu pointed out that the Commission had implemented eight of the recommendations of the EU-EOM in the post-2015 elections, adding that 22 of the recommendations were beyond the electoral body.
He listed the implemented recommendations to include: biometric identification of voters, simultaneous accreditation and voting by electorate among others.
Earlier, the Team Leader, Santiago Fisas, had said they were at the INEC headquarters to discuss ways of improving Nigeria’s electoral system.
The team also paid a courtesy call on the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where the Committee’s national chairman, Ahmed Makarfi thanked the EU for supporting the country’s electoral process.