Because of insecurity, elections would not be held in 240 polling units, according to INEC.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the election will not take place in any of the 240 polling stations located throughout 28 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, announced this during a meeting with political parties on Monday, stating that no voters expressed interest in transferring to those units during the previous Continuous Voter Registration due to insecurity.

As a result, with fewer than 12 days till the general elections, the total number of polling units stands at 176,606.

The INEC chairman stated that the Commission would compile a thorough list of polling units.

“Let me begin with the problem of polling units. As you may recall, 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.

“At previous meetings, we also briefed you on our efforts to redistribute voters to the polling units in order to avoid the congestion that made voting cumbersome in many of them nationwide. This requires the redistribution of voters to new polling units in proximate locations.

Where they are separated by distance, this must be done after consultation with the voters. This has been done by our State offices nationwide.

“However, 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 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, mainly for security reasons. This means that no elections will hold in these polling units. “In our avowed commitment to transparency, the Commission is making available to Nigerians a comprehensive list of these polling units by name, code number and their locations by state, local government and registration Area.

With this development, the number of polling units where elections will hold nationwide on February 25, 2023 and March 11, 2023 is now 176,606. Hard copies of the list are included in your folders for this meeting.

Above all, Nigerians deserve the right to know the locations of these polling units. Accordingly, the soft copy of the list has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information and guidance.” According to Yakubu, observations from the just concluded mock exercise showed that registered voters could not identify their polling units, advising voters to confirm the locations of their polling units through a dedicated portal on our website.

He said “Closely related to the distribution of voters is the identification of polling units. 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. Consequently, the Commission is advising voters to confirm the locations of their polling units through a dedicated portal on our website. “In addition, all voters who have been assigned to new polling units will receive text messages from the Commission indicating their polling units.

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.

“As you are already aware, we have less than two weeks to the 2023 general election. The Commission is finalising the issuance of 1,642,386 identification tags for the Polling and Collation Agents nominated by the 18 political parties made up of 1,574,301 Polling Agents and 68,085 Collation Agents. I urge the Chairmen and leaders of political parties to ensure that only agents accredited by the Commission and wearing the correct identification tags appear at polling units and collation centres during elections.