…Emphasizes its Neutrality in the Election

As part of deepening understanding of the electoral process, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commissioned on Monday explained to the leaders of 18 registered political parties why elections will not hold in 240 polling units across 28 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu said: “No new registrants chose the polling units and no voters indicated interest to transfer to them during the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, mainly for security reasons. This means that no elections will hold in these polling units.

Polling Units Where Elections Will Not Hold

Polling Units Where Elections Will Not Hold

They range from one polling unit to 12 in some states and FCT except Taraba and Imo states with 34 and 38 units respectively. The Commission promised prospective voters that they would be provided with a comprehensive list of these polling units by name, code number and their locations by State, Local Government and Registration Area.

Polling Units Where Elections Will Not Hold

“With this development, the number of polling units where elections will hold nationwide on 25th February 2023 and 11th March 2023 is now 176,606,” he stressed.

Giving more insight into the electoral process, he said from feedback received from Commission’s officials and accredited observers following the recent nationwide mock accreditation using the BVAS, it was clear that some voters could not easily identify their polling units stressing that this should not happen on election day.

The Commission, therefore, advised voters to confirm the locations of their polling units through a dedicated portal on our website.

“In addition, all voters who have been assigned to new polling units will receive text messages from the Commission indicating their polling units. We have also compiled the register of such voters and our state offices will give it wide publicity, especially for those who may not have provided their telephone numbers during voter registration or those whose numbers may have changed.

“Voters can locate and confirm their polling units before election day by sending a regular text or WhatsApp message to a dedicated telephone number. Details of the simple procedure will be uploaded to our social media platforms shortly”, he said.

He said the Commission is finalising the issuance of 1,642,386 identification tags for the Polling and Collation Agents nominated by the 18 political parties made up of 1,574,301 Polling Agents and 68,085 Collation Agents for the general elections. He, however, warned that only agents accredited by the Commission and wearing the correct identification tags appear at polling units and collation centres during elections.

“A situation where two or more agents claim to represent a political party, resulting in commotion at polling units or collation centres, is unacceptable. Only Identification tags issued by the Commission will be recognised on election day and violators are liable to arrest and prosecution for impersonation”, he warned.

Speaking on the ongoing electioneering campaigns, by political parties, he said the Commission is concerned about violent attacks on supporters of political parties across the board, resulting in the loss of life in some cases.

“Let me once again appeal to Chairmen and leaders of political parties to continue to call your candidates and supporters to order. I also call on the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to arrest, investigate and prosecute anyone involved in violent conduct, including incendiary statements capable of inciting a breach of the peace.”

Responding on behalf of the political parties, IPAC National Chairman, Eng. Yabagi Yusuf Sani commended the electoral umpire for the meeting stressing that he was confident that; “as it has always been in the past, IPAC and INEC will be coming away from the meeting more prepared to face the onerous historical challenge of conducting credible, transparent, and acceptable elections in 2023”.

He reaffirmed IPAC’s confidence in the leadership of INEC for its consistent demonstration of diligence, uncommon zeal and patriotism in the pursuit of the agency’s statutory mandate

His words: “On the basis of our evaluation that INEC has been well on track, the leadership of IPAC additionally wishes to use this occasion to commend, the efforts of INEC in confronting the extraordinary environmental challenges occasioned by naira redesign and fuel scarcity through Mr. Chairman’s visit to the relevant agencies.

Engr. Sani commended the Commission for the success of the mock BVAS accreditation exercise and the Electoral Institute’s train-the-trainer workshop for polling agents/collation officers recently.

While condemning some state governors for denying campaign venues to political parties other than their own, describing it as crude, Engr. Sani admonished party leaders that having observed that the elections are conducted free, fair and credible, the result should be accepted for the love of our country

“Mr. Chairman, under no circumstances should this election be postponed!” he warned.

INEC Emphasizes Its Neutrality

Meanwhile, the Commission has emphasized its determination to hold a free and fair election adding that INEC is not a political party and has no candidate in the election.

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this when he addressed Supervisory Presiding Officers for the 2023 general election in Abuja. He challenged the election officers on neutrality.

The INEC boss advised them not to see their job as a service to INEC but to the country as a whole in which they are equal stakeholders. His words: “INEC is not a political party. INEC has no candidate in the election. Our commitment is to the process and we will make sure that the process is what we say it should be so that the choice made by Nigerians will determine the outcome of the process,” he said.

Prof. Yakubu said the work of the SPOs is critical to the success of the 2023 general election, urging them to uphold the integrity of the process. “You are the people who supervise those who will work at the most important level, the Polling Unit level. That is the only place where voting takes place.

“The collation officers at the polling units level are collating results from the PUs. When collation officers at the PU go to the local government level, they are collating results from the PUs.

“When it goes to the state level, they are collating results from the PUs and when they come to Abuja, where we collate the presidential result it would have passed through all these processes.

“So, by the time the results come to Abuja, Nigerians would have known the outcome of the election,” he stressed adding that: “Our responsibility is simply to collate.”

Prof. Yakubu said the training was going on simultaneously in all states and the Federal Capital Territory stressing that the training was a further reassurance to Nigerians of the Commission’s readiness to conduct election on February 25 and March 11.