Alhaji Sibdow Alhassan Yakubu (aka Alhaji SAY) at one of the registration centres

The Regional Secretary cum Treasurer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Northern Region, Alhaji Yakubu Alhassan Sibdow popularly called Alhaji SAY says the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) cannot be considered as a serious political party.

He argued that the NDC in the beginning never even wanted the Electoral Commission to compile the new voters register for which reason; they would never say or see anything positive about the ongoing registration process.

According to Alhaji SAY, all attempts by the NDC to insight people against the voter registration exercise have failed.

He however bemoaned that the main opposition party is still doing everything possible to derail the exercise.

Alhaji SAY has therefore described the NDC as the National Retrogressive Political Party whose words, he added, cannot be taken seriously.

“So as for the NDC is better we don’t talk about it because they are now National Retrogressive Political Party, the less we talk about them the better” he chided.

Safety protocols

The Minority Members of Parliament have attributed the non-adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols at registration centres to the Electoral Commission’s failure to institute the appropriate measures to ensure compliance.

However, speaking to THE CUSTODIAN after visiting registration centres in the Mion, Yendi and Gushegu constituencies at the eastern corridor, Alhaji Sibdow noted that it was some people were simply failing to observe the safety protocols.

“It isn’t that people do not observe the safety protocols, at all centres I have visited people wear the nose masks as directed by the government and also observe the one-meter social distancing protocol. It’s only some few areas where the people are crowded”.

This, he noted, was partly because the EC did not provide shelter for the applicants and they could not queue under the harsh weather condition.

According to him, the EC had given assurance that it will erect canopies at areas where there are no sheds.

Turnout

Alhaji SAY said he was impressed with the massive turnout across the northern region.

He stressed that over 100 applicants registered at many centres on day one of the process, adding that the numbers are encouraging in the region.

Alhaji SAY commended the people for incident free in registration exercise so far.

He urged both NPP and NDC to maintain a peaceful atmosphere in the region to ensure the exercise ends well.