By Chioma Awujo
Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood has assured Imo citizens, especially the electorate that the lapses experienced during 2023 general election will be addressed in the Saturday's governorship election in the state.
He also assured that the Commission was prepared and committed to conducting a peaceful, transparent, free, fair, acceptable and credible poll.
Mahmood gave the assurances at a special meeting with election stakeholders in the state held at Swiss International Beland Hotel, Owerri on Tuesday.
Advertisement:
The INEC boss, represented by the National Commissioner in charge of South Eastern states, Hon. Kenneth Ukeagu disclosed that while 2, 419, 922 are registered voters in the state, "a total of 2, 318, 919 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) representing 95.8 per cent of the registered voters have been collected and 101,003 are uncollected."
He said, "prior to now, the Commission harvested the challenges and lessons learnt in previous elections and in particular, the 2023 general election in order to improve our processes and procedure in the upcoming governorship election.
"We have updated our records to provide detailed breakdown of PVCs collected by polling units. This is important because the total number of PVCs collected will be used to determine the margin of lead principle as provided in the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines as well as the Electoral Act 2022.
Advertisement:
"Eighteen (18) political parties will participate in the election. Polls will hold in 4,720 out of the 4,758 polling units in the state. Election will not hold in thirty-eight (38) polling units with zero registered voters.
"Accordingly, the Commission will deploy men and materials to 4,720 polling units during the election. Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would be deployed to the polling units for voter accreditation and upload of results."
Mahmood continued, "Adequate steps have been taken by the Commission to ensure that the BVAS machines function optimally during accreditation of voters and upload of polling unit result sheets to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
Advertisement:
"We have recruited, trained and carefully screened all categories of adhoc staff to be deployed to the field. All non-sensitive materials for the election have been delivered to the Commission’s 27 LGA offices in the state.
"The sensitive materials were received yesterday and presently in the security vaults of the Owerri branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and would be delivered to LGA offices on Thursday, 9th November 2023.
"We have concluded arrangements for the transportation of personnel and materials to ensure that all polling units open as scheduled on election day. In addition, Registration Area Centres (RACs) would be activated at the RA/Ward level on Friday 10th November 2023 as transit camps for election personnel and materials to facilitate early deployment to polling units on election day."
Advertisement:
He further said, "The Commission has accredited agents nominated by political parties for the 4,720 polling units, 305 Registration Areas collation centres, 27 Local Government collation centres and the State Collation Centre where the final declaration of result will be made.
"A total of 137 Domestic and 8 International Observer groups have been accredited by the Commission and they will deploy 3,374 field observers for the Imo governorship election. 44 national and 2 international media organizations accredited for the election will deploy 242 journalists for the exercise. Identity cards embedded with quick-response (QR) codes have been provided by the Commission to all accredited party agents, observer groups and media organizations. This is to ensure that only accredited persons have access to Voting and Collation Centres."
Advertisement:
"As the Commission makes final preparation for the election, I want to assure the good people of Imo State that, the Commission under the leadership of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is resolute in its commitment to conduct a free, fair, credible, peaceful and inclusive election on Saturday 11th November 2023.
"The choice of who becomes the next Governor of Imo State will only be determined by the eligible voters in the state. To this end, the Commission would not take any action to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate. Our focus is to implement the processes and procedures as provided by law." he added.
Advertisements:
