INEC explains why its ICT Director was redeployed months to 2023 election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why its Director of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Chidi Nwafor, was transferred a few months before the 2023 general elections.

There’s been controversies over what caused the non-upload of presidential election results in real time, with many saying that the commission missed the expertise of Nwafor.

Reacting to this during an interview on Channels Television, INEC National Commissioner Festus Okoye stated that the commission is built in a way that no department is wrapped around an individual.

He said;

“The present leadership of the commission wants to build a professional organisation that is not wrapped around one individual. The individual (Nwafor) mentioned is a very good friend of mine; he is a director in the commission and any director can be posted out or to go and become an administrative secretary.

“Now the time we readjusted list of administrative secretaries was the time the commission was slightly panicky on whether we were going to have new resident electoral commissioners and we were preparing for elections.

“So, the commission decided in its wisdom that we are going to post our best hands to the various states as administrative secretaries to go and prepare the states for the purposes of election and that was exactly what the commission did.

“We have a department in charge of ICT and the Chidi I know tried to build a department that can stand on its own whether he is there on not and that is the same thing with every department.”

Okoye also blamed INEC’s inability to transmit polling units results directly to its portal in real time as it promised before the elections to “technical glitches” which he said have been rectified ahead of the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections.

He assured Nigerians that the commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV) will be functional during the March 18 elections.

Afenifere knocks INEC, says commission disobeys electoral guidelines

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has condemned the outcome of the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election, won by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.

The group also faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission on the conduct of the election, saying the commission did not comply with electoral guidelines.

This was contained in a communique issued after the general meeting of the group.

The communique was made available to our correspondent by the Secretary General of the association, Mr Sola Ebiseni, in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Wednesday.

According to the group, the alleged non-compliance with the electoral guidelines by the INEC caused a series of malpractices during the last general election.

The communique read in part;

The deliberate non-compliance by the Commission with these mandatory guidelines encouraged electoral brigandage at the polling units which included the destruction of ballot papers, snatching of ballot boxes, doctoring of figures and swapping of votes of candidates at the coalition centres by amended and outlawed manual procedures which rendered the 25th February 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections flawed in several respects as confirmed by local and international observers.

“The results of the lawful votes at the election available to the Afenifere through credible sources confirm that His Excellency Peter Gregory Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party won the said election and we thus support his decision challenging the contrary Declaration by the INEC.”

The group, which declared that the Labour Part’s candidate, Mr Peter Obi won the presidential election, “denounced in strong terms and dissociated Afenifere from any congratulatory message in the name of the Organisation or howsoever to any candidate as illegally declared by the INEC.”

Afenifere reiterates that for equity, fairness, national cohesion and peaceful corporate existence, the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a person of its Southern part and specifically the South-East,” the statement added.

The group called on Nigerians to troop out en masse and participate fully in the governorship and houses of assembly elections coming up on Saturday, March 11, 2023.

Earlier, the leader of the group worldwide, Pa Reuben Fasoranti in a congratulatory letter to the President-Elect, Tinubu over his victory in the last presidential election.

In the letter, Fasoranti advised the President-Elect to avoid the mistakes of his predecessors.

The letter read in part;

“You now have the opportunity. Now is the time for you to prove me right. I pray to God to be with you.

“In going about this, avoid the mistake of some of your forbears. Be fair to all concerned. Go ahead to unite the country, see and treat the country as one.

“Be a federalist. Allow the big ethnic groups to exist and respect one another, but also allow the small ones to feel proud and wanted in the spirit of federalism as practised in the USA.”

INEC shifts governorship, state assembly elections to March 18

The Independent National Electoral Commission has postponed the governorship and state assembly elections till March 18.

The exercise was previously scheduled to hold on March 11, but INEC, citing a logistics crisis stemming from BVAS configuration and transportation, said the election could not hold again as scheduled following a meeting of its executives on Wednesday evening.

“The elections were postponed to allow one more week for preparations,” an official familiar with the meeting told Peoples Gazette by telephone on Wednesday night.

“We should be able to get everything in order before March 18.”

The meeting was still underway at INEC headquarters in Abuja as of the time of filing this report.

The commission had convinced the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal to vary its order granting Peter Obi of the Labour Party and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar permission to inspect the election materials on the premise that it had to reconfigure the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) for the conduction of the polls this Saturday.

INEC removes Doguwa’s name from Reps-elect list

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has removed the name of the embattled leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, from the list of election winners.

It was reported that Doguwa was arrested for his alleged involvement in the killing of several persons and burning of the Secretariat of New Nigeria People’s Party in the just concluded general election.

He was granted bail on Monday, March 7.

Recall that after the election, the returning officer, Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai, had announced Doguwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election after he polled 39,732 votes to defeat his closest rival, Yushau Salisu Abdullahi of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) who polled 34,798 votes.

In a list of elected lawmakers published on its verified Twitter page, Doguwa’s name was removed.

It was alleged that Doguwa was announced the winner by the collation officer under duress.

INEC releases results of Rivers National Assembly polls one week after election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers has released the winners of the National Assembly election conducted on February 25 in Rivers.

INEC announced the results in a statement issued to reporters by the commission’s Public Affairs Officer, Geraldine Ekelemu, in Port Harcourt on Saturday.

The commission announced the winner of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District as Mpigi Barinada of PDP with 53,734 votes to defeat his closest APC rival, Ngofa Nyimenuate, who polled 24,123 votes.

It stated that Rivers West Senatorial District was won by PDP’s Banigo Harry who scored 67,668 votes to beat APC’s Asita Asita who netted 32,572 votes.

The commission also announced that PDP’s Onyesoh Allwell clinched Rivers East Senatorial seat with 134,283 votes to floor LP’s Benjamin Okwuwolu who scored 74,725 votes.

Similarly, INEC released the list of the House of Representatives members from Okrika/Ogubuolo, Etche/Omuma, Ikwerre/Emohua, Ahoada West/Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Akuku-Toru/Asari-Toru, Eleme/Tai/Oyibo, Abua-Odual/Ahoada East, Andoni-Opobo/Nkuru, Degema/Bonny, Obio/Akpor, and Port Harcourt 1, while the result of Port Harcourt 2 is suspended.

The results showed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won only the Okrika/Ogu Bolo seat, while Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won nine seats and Labour Party also won only one seat for Port Harcourt 1 federal constituency.

Rivers has 12 members in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly.

The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Johnson Alalibo, had earlier told reporters that the results of Port Harcourt 2 federal constituency would be suspended and reviewed due to reports of irregularity.

Governorship, house of assembly elections will still hold on March 11-INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission says the March 11 governorship and state house of assembly elections will hold as scheduled.

INEC gave the assurance in a statement by its spokesman Festus Okoye, in Abuja on Thursday.

The electoral umpire said all the processes and procedures leading to the elections were being finalised.

“The commission held its regular weekly meeting and deliberated on several issues, including the presidential and National Assembly elections,” said INEC.

“It also discussed the governorship and state assembly elections and the pending elections in Enugu East senatorial district and the Esan Central/Esan West and Igueben federal constituencies in Edo.”

INEC also promised to conduct the rescheduled elections in Enugu and Edo on March 11.

“The commission is aware that in some senatorial districts and federal constituencies, declarations and returns were not made. The commission is compiling the list of the affected constituencies. A date for supplementary elections will be fixed after the governorship and State Assembly elections,” the INEC statement added.

International police observers praise INEC on presidential election

The Police Chaplains Electoral Observation Mission in Nigeria and eight domestic observers that monitored Saturday’s presidential and federal parliamentary elections have described the poll as a sign of the country’s political maturity.

The mission, which is the arm of the International Police Chaplain Sustainable Development and Law Enforcement (IPCSL) Inc., U.S., said this while presenting their preliminary report on Wednesday in Abuja.

Other groups that monitored the elections were the Grassroots Empowerment Initiative for Positive Change and Development, Voters Awareness Initiative, Society for the Protection of Human Rights, African Civil Society Forum, Africa Youths International Development Foundation, Pan African Leadership League, Centre for Strategic Conflicts Management, and Youth and Public Safety Awareness Initiative monitored the election across the country.

Presenting the preliminary report on the election, the head of IPCSL Mission, Johannes Makouvia, described the exercise as peaceful.

Mr Makouvia said the process conformed with the international standard, adding that the security forces’ discreet presence in most polling centres allowed for the peaceful conduct of the voting process.

According to him, electoral law stipulates that voting is secret and that each polling station has at least one voting booth, saying the mission observed compliance with this provision in the polling stations visited.

He added that it helped to guarantee the secrecy of the vote, adding that voting in the polling stations observed was well attended in the morning, but the pace slowed in the afternoon.

“Overall turnout was orderly and calm, and voters cast their ballots peacefully without major incidents. The mission found that, in general, voting procedures were followed by polling station officials,” stated the group.

It added;

“The IPCSL found that candidate delegates were able to freely exercise their mission in the polling stations observed. This is a sign of political maturity that contributed to the normal functioning of the polling stations.”

The national commandant of the IPSCL in Nigeria, Blessing Akinlosotu, said IPCSL deployed 178 observers on the election day and visited 2,297 polling stations throughout the country, adding that 66 per cent of polling stations opened on time at 8:30 am, while 34 per cent opened late due to late installation of equipment.

INEC presents certificate of return to President-elect Bola Tinubu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has presented certificates of return to President-elect Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, hours after they were declared winners of the presidential election that was held February 25.

On Wednesday afternoon, amid pomp and circumstance, and in the midst of jubilant supporters, Mr Tinubu received his certificate from INEC chair, Mahmood Yakubu.

His excited supporters sang “Bola, on your mandate we shall stand,” and chanted “Awa lo kan” as Mr Tinubu raised the framed certificate, posing for photographs.

Mr Shettima, on his part, swayed to the podium amid shouts of “golden boy” from party supporters to receive his certificate of return from the electoral officials.

The ceremony was attended by vice president Yemi Osinbajo and several governors including Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), former Ekiti governor, Kayode Fayemi and so on.

After the national anthem was sung at the close of the event, the president-elect walked out in style to “Asiwaju,” a Nigerian hit track which happens to be Mr Tinubu’s nickname.

Mr Tinubu would be sworn in as president of the nation on June 12, the nation’s democracy day.

NLC declares announced results illegitimate, warns INEC against plunging Nigeria into chaos

The NLC once again warns that any election result that does not reflect the wishes of the people will not only spell doom for democracy but will also render the benefiting government of such heist illegitimate. Sustainable governments are built on sovereign will.

The reason is that such government is akin to a coup though not a military one but organised by civilian INEC against the fundamental rights and choices of the people as expressed through the ballot last Saturday. Every government needs legitimacy to govern freely.

However this can only be conferred by the will of the people freely given in an election.When that will is circumvented by whatsoever means, the government loses the very foundation that it needs to be anchored to find acceptance thus govern.

These very basic elements are clearly lacking in what INEC seems to be in a rush to plunge Nigeria into.

As it stands now, the current Presidential result collation lacks legitimacy as it has been questioned critically by major stakeholders with INEC unable to give satisfactory explanations to the issues raised.

Since INEC has compromised the sources of the results from the Polling units by the mere action of the clear sabotage of the BVAS an instrument that had hitherto given Nigerians hope for a more free, fair, credible and acceptable election in 2023, there is nothing that will restore this hope and build belief than to go back to the results as captured by the BVAS.

If this is no longer possible, we call for a pause in further announcement of the Presidential results and carry out a backward review before deciding on the way forward.

INEC’s actions have sabotaged the integrity of the election and undermine the credibility of its outcomes.

It is the process that confers legitimacy on the outcome and anything that contaminates it renders the outcomes inchoate.

This is not what this country needs right now especially when we are confronted with military insurgencies, banditry, Kidnappings and other very criminal acts around the nation.

We need outcomes that builds national cohesion and solidarity and not one that divides.

Nigerian workers find it difficult to believe that at this day and age, INEC could not collate results from its own Servers when far less funded organisations both locally and internationally have done so seamlessly?

Many Organisations and nations have performed this very basic tasks without this storm. It is neither the lack of capacity nor the paucity of resources at INEC’s disposal that has led to this farce but the greed factor that has led to the intentional scuttling of a simple process for the benefit of a few individuals and to the detriment of the whole nation.

A product is always subject to the processes that gives birth to it and if that process becomes contaminated, the product becomes defiled.

We do not understand the driving force behind INEC’s pursuit of announcing a Presidential election result with processes that are clearly fraught with serious irregularities.

We do not understand why INEC has suddenly become deaf to sound reason but continues to pursue a path that may put the whole nation in crisis. It will be the height of irresponsibility to rush our nation into a cul-de-sac.

A government that is built on subverting the sovereign will cannot be seen to be legitimate. Such illegitimacy will dog the footsteps of the administration and will surely make it incapable of providing acceptable governance to the people.

If INEC announces a result that is dogged by this confusion and questions, how can a government built on it survive?

How can such a government hope to mobilise the people?

How will such a government build trust and confidence in the people for whatever policies and programmes that may become the anchor for its governance projections?

How can such government gather the support of the citizen it hopes to lead?

How can it wield authority?

The NLC is seriously worried knowing that a government that lacks legitimacy is like a fish out of water and can only survive by the sheer strength of brutal force thus a recipe for national disaster.

INEC should therefore not give Nigerians an “Abiku or Ogbanje” that is billed to give us so much trouble and eventually die in infancy. This nation must be saved from this avoidable disaster.

INEC must allow reason to prevail and remove its legs from the pedal that is clearly headed for the rocks. No good will come from where it is taking Nigerians to.

We are sure that a government that is unacceptable to the people will suffer severely and may be prone to social instability. This illegitimate result must not be announced. A stitch in time they say, saves nine.

Let us consider this nation first before our selfish designs. We will not accept a government built on fraud and we are sure that other critical national stakeholders will also not accept such contraption.

INECresults: Atiku Abubakar wins Gombe state

The PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has won the presidential election conducted in Gombe state.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Atiku secured a total of 319, 123 to defeat his closest rival and All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Tinubu who polled 146, 977 votes.

Labour Party’s Peter Obi secured 26, 160 votes while NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso polled 10, 520 votes.

INEC suspends rescheduled presidential, NASS elections in Abia

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended the rescheduled Presidential and NASS elections in seven local government areas in Abia.

Rebecca Jim, Head, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC Abia, who disclosed this in a statement, said that a new date would be communicated in due time.

She said;

“The proposed election in polling units where election could not hold on Saturday, 25th February, 2023 in Abia State scheduled for Monday, 27th February, 2023 has been put on hold.

“You shall be communicated in due course on a new date. All inconveniences are highly regretted.”

Clement Oha, INEC Administration Secretary in charge of Abia, had on Sunday addressed journalists in Umuahia about the proposed election.

He said that the election would be held at various polling units in Aba North, Aba South, Arochukwu, Obingwa, Osisioma, Ohafia and Umuahia North local government areas.

Mr Oha explained that the fresh poll was due to result of various degrees of discrepancies in the procedures that were violent to some extent.

“The commission in their wisdom felt that the credibility of the election should not be compromised, and that there should be no winner by default.

So, election must take place in the affected polling units tomorrow (Monday),” he had said.

APC chairman Adamu commends INEC on BVAS, optimistic on Tinubu’s victory

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Abdullahi Adamu, has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the use Bimodal Verification and Accreditation System (BVAS).

Mr Adamu gave the commendation in an interview in Abuja on Monday.

“Although the system malfunctioned in some places, it is not overwhelming to question the credibility of the election.

“We heard from INEC that some BVAS malfunctioned. We expected it because it is a technology and with the political environment like our own, I am not expecting it to be 100 per cent.

“I must commend INEC that though there were hitches, they were not particularly overwhelming to a point of questioning the credibility of the election.

“I think it has been worth the experiment and it should be used for subsequent elections,” he said.

Mr Adamu said he is optimistic that the APC Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu, will win the presidential election.

“If the information we are beginning to receive from various parts of the country is anything to go by, one has every reason to be optimistic that our candidate will win.

“I know Tinubu will win because of his faith in God and we have worked for it and we believe Nigerians have listened to us just as they have listened to others.

“I believe our message has gone deeper and has bigger spread and understanding of what we are,” he said.

On what the party intends to do differently for national development should Mr Tinubu win, Mr Adamu said everything is contained in the manifesto.

He said APC party members were not beginners, adding that they had been “tested” by Nigerians.

According to him, there is no denying the fact that given their expertise, understanding and goodwill their candidate qualify to win.On vote buying, the chairman said he did not believe in it.

He said, “I do not believe in this idea of people claiming to be purists, having holier than thou attitude to life and being pretentious.

“I believe very electoral system and every country has problems that are peculiar to it.

“I want the person that would come out to say from the beginning to the end that there was no money in his or her political activity till the day he or she was declared winner or loser.”

On whether or not the cashless policy affected the conduct of the election, the former governor said “the problems have stayed but we were able to move on.

“If you have a choice then you talk of what to do and what not to do but we do not have a choice for the election to wait for it.

“I think our ability and doggedness to achieve certain feat in the face of difficulties has made us to withstand this,” he said.

Mr Adamu thanked Nigerians for turning out enmass for the election and conducting themselves peacefully.

He said in spite of the few hitches experienced in some places, there had not been any major mishap.

While thanking God for taking control of the election, the chairman said the election was about one of the biggest he had witnessed.

On his ability to manage some crisis the party faced prior to the election, Mr Adamu thanked God for His guidance as well as the leadership and other members of the party for their cooperation.

He further said he was able to manage the crisis because he provided the leadership that represented different interests and a common goal.

Port Harcourt thugs attacked us, INEC starved us, lament ad hoc staff

At least five ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stationed in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, have complained about poor treatment by the commission, including the non-payment of required allowances and inadequate welfare planning for their security and personal well-being during the ongoing presidential and parliamentary elections.

Speaking to Peoples Gazette at the Obio/Akpor local government collation center, a presiding officer who chose not to disclose his name said he had not received his feeding allowances from Friday up until this morning.

He accused his Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO) of cornering the funds for himself and his colleagues.

“Our own feeding money that they were supposed to give us, since on Friday nothing, Saturday nothing. Till this Sunday morning, our SPO said she is not owing us anything,” he said.

He added that INEC authorities allowed them to transport sensitive election materials, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and result sheets without any form of protection, leaving them vulnerable to thugs who stopped and harassed them.

His statement aligned with that of another officer who simply identified herself as Grace.

“We have been here for the past three days, no food, no water. They didn’t give us anything,” she said.

“We have serious issues with payment.”

“We did not have money for transport, we have been spending our own money,” she added.

Another presiding officer, Henrietta, said she and her colleagues were held hostage for more than three hours by “area boys” who assaulted several of them repeatedly.

“The bus took us to Rumeme community primary school and we were held hostage in that place for more than three hours.

We tried calling our SPO, INEC officials, none of them answered us,” she said. “In fact, they molested so many of us yesterday evening,” she added.

Stay away from polling units if you don’t have PVC- INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised Nigerians without Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), to stay away from the polling units on election day.

INEC national commissioner, Festus Okoye, stated this while receiving IT facilities from Community Life Project (CLP) and Ford foundation in support of the INEC Citizens Contact Centre (ICCC) on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Okoye, who is Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said no other means of identification would be used on election day, other than the PVC.

“As Nigerians go to the polling units on election day we want to point out that it is a mandatory provision of the Electoral Act that every citizen who wants to vote in the coming election must have a PVC.

“It is a mandatory requirement of section 47 subsection 1 of the Electoral Act.

“So individuals that do not have PVC are not required to approach any of our polling units.

“No individual is permitted to go to the polling units and provide any other means of identification other than the PVC.

He re-emphasied that INEC was committed to the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voters’ accreditation and uploading of election results to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

Mr Okoye also reminded the media, election observer groups and citizens that it is only INEC that has the legal right to announce election results.

“No media organisation, no individual, no citizen, no domestic or international election observer is permitted under the condition or under the law to announce election results.

“As some of you are aware, the Chairman of INEC is the electoral Commissioner for the whole of the federation and the returning officer for the presidential election.

“So only the chairman of the commission is permitted by the constitution and the Electoral Act to announce the presidential results.

“Any other person can be appointed by the commission to announce any other level of election,’’he said.

Heavily armed police operatives storm INEC office in Lagos

With just two days to the presidential and federal parliamentary elections, a police detachment numbering about 30 has arrived at the INEC headquarters office in Lagos to beef up security around the facilities.

The operatives, fully armed, arrived INEC office on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. with their weapons and luggage, with INEC busy loading Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in trucks to various local government areas in Lagos.

The police officers, upon arrival, began chanting various songs to announce their arrival for election duty.

INEC in Lagos on Wednesday took delivery of sensitive materials for Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary poll from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The commission had also begun the distribution of the materials to the 20 local government areas of Lagos.

The presidential and federal parliamentary elections will be held on Saturday.

INEC distributes sensitive materials in Cross River

On Wednesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Cross River began the distribution of sensitive materials to the 18 local council areas for Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

The distribution commenced at INEC’s office, with the loading of Bimodal Voter Accreditation election result sheets and the ballot papers from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

All security agencies, including the paramilitary, police, army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Federal Road Safety Corps and the State Security Service, supervised the distribution.

Political parties participating in the polls and civil society organisations were present during the distribution.

The resident electoral commissioner, Gabriel Yomere, said the decision to invite all stakeholders to witness the exercise was to forestall any impression by anybody of any wrongdoing by the commission.

Mr Yomere disclosed that the 3,281 BVAS for the state had been configured to be used at polling units.

“They have also been charged to last for 48 hours, so we don’t envisage any problem of power as regards the usage of the BVAS.

“As for the result sheets, they remained intact the way they were brought from where they came from,” he said.

At least 295 candidates in the state are jostling for the 36 elective political positions, including the governorship position, in the February 25 and March 11 general elections, according to INEC.

A breakdown of the figure showed that 11 candidates would contest the governorship seat, 28 candidates for the senatorial seats, 69 for the House of Representatives and 187 for the House of Assembly.

Only 12 out of the 17 registered political parties in the state would be fielding candidates during the elections. Meanwhile, the security agencies have reassured residents of their safety during and after the elections.

The police commissioner in charge of elections in the state, Kabiru Ibrahim, who spoke on behalf of others, said all flash points in Cross River would be closely monitored.

Election will not hold in 240 polling units – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Monday, Feb. 13, that elections will not hold in about 240 polling units across 28 States of the federation.

INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this when he addressed members of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) at the INEC headquarters in Abuja ahead of the elections.

He explained that the affected polling units have no registered voter. He said with the exclusion of the 240 polling units, election will take place in about 176,606 polling units across the country.

Yakubu said;

“There are 240 polling units without registered voters spread across 28 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

They range from one polling unit to 12 polling units in each State and the FCT, except Taraba and Imo States with 34 and 38 polling units respectively.

No new registrants chose the polling units and no voters indicated interest to transfer to them during the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), mainly for security reasons. This means that no elections will hold in these polling units.”

The Commission also warned that it will not accept a situation where two or more party agents report to the polling units and caused confusion.

INEC added that any agent found to be engaged in such act will be arrested and prosecuted.

INEC tells voters to check their polling units online

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised eligible voters in the February 25 and March 11 elections to visit its online portal to know their polling units.

The commission announced this in a short message, ‘Information for all eligible voters’, issued on Sunday in Abuja.

INEC said this was important as it moved some voters from overcrowded polling units to less congested polling units within the same location for a stress-free voting.

“INEC in exercise of its powers under Section 40(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022, has allotted voters from overcrowded polling units to less congested polling units within the same location to promote a more pleasant and stress free voting experience on election day,” INEC explained.

The electoral body added, “Please visit the INEC’s Voter Verification System on: www.cvr.inecnigeria.org/vvs or voters.inecnigeria.org to check your name on the register of voters and confirm the location of your polling unit where you will vote on election day.”

The commission noted that the list of registered voters in the 176,846 polling units nationwide would be on display at each polling unit prior to elections.

“Eligible voters are encouraged to visit their polling units to check for their name on the register and confirm location of their polling unit where they will vote on election day,” said INEC.

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