By Uche Amunike
Nigerians have been shocked by the information disclosed Monday, that according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 240 polling units will not be a part of the forthcoming elections because the polling booths were not chosen by any voter during the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) between June 2021 and July 2022.
Speaking, in Abuja, Monday, as he addressed members of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) at the INEC Headquarters, the INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu made this disclosure, adding that these 240 polling units were spread across 28 states and the Federal Capital territory (FCT), Abuja.
According to INEC, 240 polling units in question are included in the newly created ones nationwide, numbering over 56,000.
Recall that from 2021, INEC increased the number of polling units from a total of 119,973 to 176,846. As a result, the Presidential, National Assembly, States and House of Assembly elections will take place in 176,606 polling units.
Hear him: ‘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.’
‘You may recall that in 2021, with your support and that of other critical stakeholders, the Commission successfully expanded voter access to polling units 25 years after the last delimitation exercise in 1996. Consequently, the number of polling units increased from 119,973 to the current figure of 176,846,’ Yakubu said.
He averred that the commission will send text messages to voters who had their polling units changed, adding that voters can as well, find out the locations of their polling units via an official portal on its website.
His words: ‘From the feedback we received from our officials and accredited observers following the recent nationwide mock accreditation using the BVAS, it is clear that some voters could not easily identify their polling units. This should not happen on election day.’
‘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 assured that the commission had redistributed voters to other new polling units, nationwide, so as to avoid the pre-existing ones being congested and this was done for voters in proximate areas, because of the distance, after due consultations with them.
He also assured that INEC would present a comprehensive list of names of the polling units, their code numbers and locations by state, local government and registration areas.
