Voting ongoing in Ede North, Ile Ogbo, Ejigbo and other local government areas of Osun State, Saturday
Insecurity: Imo, Taraba top list, as INEC rules out voting at 240 polling stations in 28 states
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ruled out voting in 240 polling stations across 28 states over rising insecurity across the affected locations of the country, adding further Imo and Taraba states topped the list of troubled spots with 38 and 34 polling stations ruled out ahead of the 2023 General Elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this, Monday, during a meeting with political party leaders, said the affected locations also included the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“There are 240 polling units without registered voters spread across 28 states and the FCT. They range from one polling unit to 12 polling units in the states as FCT except for Taraba and Imo states with 34 and 38 polling units respectively.
“No new registrant chose the polling units and no voter indicated interest to transfer to them during the last CVR mainly for security reasons. This means that no election would be held in these poling units,” the INEC Chairman said.
Earlier, the INEC boss dismissed reports that the commission was backing a particular candidate in the 2023 elections, following a viral report of the commission liking a comment criticizing the Labour Party Presidential standard bearere, Dr Peter Obi, tagged to its Twitter platform.
Addressing Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) for the 2023 general election in Abuja, earlier Monday,
Yakubu demanded neutrality from electoral officers.
“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.
While calling on the SPOs to uphold the integrity of the process, the INEC chairman said they are critical to the success of the 2023 general elections.
“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. Our responsibility is simply to collate,” he said.
