Contrary to some logistic issues that culminated into the postponement of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC says it is set for tomorrow’s rescheduled polls.
According to INEC, all arrangements have been concluded to open 119,973 polling units and 57,023 voting points at 8:00am simultaneously across the country.
Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman while briefing journalists, observers and other stakeholders on preparedness of the Commission on Friday evening said the movement of personnel and materials to the 774 Local Government Areas and 8,809 Registration Area Centres nationwide has been concluded.
Yakubu who clarified that sensitive materials mistakenly taken to locations they are not meant for have been returned to their original locations, said Smart Card Readers for accreditation have been deployed to all polling units and voting points with one extra for each Registration Center while a technical team is on ground in each Registration Center to attend to hitches.
“Tomorrow is Election Day. A total of 72,775,502 citizens who have collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are eligible to cast their ballots. Nigerians will elect a President out of a total of 73 candidates nominated by their political parties. Similarly, voters will elect 109 Senators out of 1,880 candidates and 360 members of the House of Representatives out of 4,631 candidates.
“Elections will hold in 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Voting will take place in 176,973 locations made up of 119,973 polling units and 57,023 voting points.
“We have engaged 825,543 ad hocstaff ranging from Presiding Officers to Collation and Returning Officers. We have mobilised about 80,000 commercial vehicles and about 996 boats for the deployment of personnel and materials, including 707,892 ballot boxes and voting cubicles, to various land and riverine locations. We have accredited 120 domestic and 36 international organisations deploying a cumulative total of over 73,000 observers
“We have concluded the movement of personnel and materials to the 774 LGAs and 8,809 Registration Area Centres nationwide. All arrangements are now in place to facilitate the opening of polls nationwide at 8 am tomorrow. Citizens can obtain locational directions to their polling units by visiting gotomypu.ng They will access the locational name of their PU and a link to a Google Map that will lead them to the PU. In the last 10 days, about 190,000 voters have utilised the various social media platforms to geo-locate their polling units.
“Voting will be by Continuous Accreditation and Voting System (CAVS) procedure and a voter will only be allowed to vote if his/her name is on the Register of Voters and after the verification of the PVC and authentication of his/her biometrics by the Smart Card Reader (SCR). No genuine PVC, No Voting.
“Telephones and other photographic devices may be brought to the polling units, but are not allowed in the voting cubicles. Other stringent measures are in place to combat the menace of vote buying and other sundry electoral malfeasance. The Commission, with the support of the security agencies, is determined to extirpate this scourge from our electoral process by prosecuting anyone arrested.
“The sorting and counting of ballots will take place at each polling unit while the first stage of the collation process takes place at the Registration Areas. From there, collation and declaration will take place at designated Local Government Area result collation and declaration centres for Federal Constituencies and Senatorial Districts. The final collation and declaration of Presidential election results will be done here in this Hall(International Conference Centre).
“Similarly, the National Situation Room located in this building will open at 6am today to monitor the deployment of personnel and materials across the country and throughout the polling period to receive and respond to enquiries associated with the elections from citizens, as well as electoral officials and other stakeholders. The hotline to the National Situation Room is available on our website. The National Collation Centre will open at 6pm on Sunday.
“As we go to the polls tomorrow, I appeal to voters to be peaceful and orderly before, during and after the elections. The police, working with other security agencies, have assured us of adequate security for voters, electoral officials, observers, and journalists. May I also appeal to all to ensure compliance with the usual restriction of movement for those who are not observers or on essential duty.
“Only INEC is empowered by law to declare election results. I urge everyone to refrain from issuing any result. The Commission will work assiduously to ensure that the collation and declaration of results are done at the various levels expeditiously”, he stated.
