The church where the registration was taking place was not recognized by INEC and therefore means an illegal registration centre.

The INEC staff including Mrs Rita, Mr Ikechukwu Izuchukwu and Miss Agbokhna Ebigun, were arrested following a complaint by the Chairman, Residents Association, Raji Azeem, to the police about ploys by the church to disenfranchise some members of the public.

According to Azeem, residents have waited to no avail at the INEC recognised registration centre only to discover that electoral officers have been camped at Catholic Church hall attending to members of the church.

He said, “The INEC registration officers, according to INEC provision should be stationed at 9A, Imam Thanni but this was not to be. We have been here awaiting their arrival but when we discovered that they were not forthcoming, we were worried.

Only for us to discover that they have been camped at the St Brigigs Catholic Church auditorium on the influence of the parish priest registering only members of the church while we were in the queue waiting. It was a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise us.

The House 9A Imam Thanni registration centre has remained a constant polling unit since 1983. But the priest decided to play the religious cards by inducing the electoral officers to register only his church members.