Politics
No Election To Hold In 240 Polling Units Across 28 States, FCT – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the forthcoming general elections will not hold in 240 Polling Units (PUs) across 28 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for not having registered voters.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at a meeting with national leaders of political parties in Abuja on Monday, said that the February and March elections would now hold in 176,606 PUs instead of 176,846 PUs nationwide.
Mr Yakubu recalled that in 2021 the commission successfully expanded the number of polling units from 119,973 to the current figure of 176,846.
He said that efforts were also made to redistribute voters to the polling units in order to avoid the congestion that made voting cumbersome in many of the PUs 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 (CVR), mainly for security reasons. This means that no elections will hold in these polling units,’’ he said.
Prof. Yakubu said that in INEC commitment to transparency, the commission was making available to Nigerians a comprehensive list of those polling units by name, code number and their locations by State, Local Government and Registration Area.
He said that the soft copy of the list had been uploaded on INEC website and social media platforms for public information and guidance.
The INEC chairman also advised registered voters to visit the commission’s website to confirm the locations of their polling units.
He said that from the feedback INEC received from the recent nationwide mock accreditation using the Bimodal Voters Verification System (BVAS), it was clear that some voters cannot easily identify their PUs.
“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.’’
Prof. Yakubu said voters could locate and confirm their polling units before election day by sending a regular text or WhatsApp message to a dedicated telephone number.
He added that details of the simple procedure would be uploaded on INEC social media platforms shortly.
Prof. Yakubu also disclosed that INEC was 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.
He urged political parties to ensure that only agents accredited by INEC and wearing the correct identification tags appear at polling units and collation centres during elections.
“A situation where two or more agents claim to represent a political party, resulting in commotion at polling units or collation centres, is unacceptable.
“Only identification tags issued by the commission will be recognised on election day and violators are liable to arrest and prosecution for impersonation,’’ Prof Yakubu said.
On the ongoing electioneering campaigns, he expressed INEC’s concerns about violent attacks on supporters of political parties across the board, resulting in the loss of lives in some cases.
Prof. Yakubu appealed to leaders of political parties to continue to call their candidates and supporters to order.
“I also call on the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to arrest, investigate and prosecute anyone involved in violent conduct, including incendiary statements capable of inciting a breach of the peace’’, he said.
In his remarks, the National Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yabagi Sani, appealed to INEC not to consider postponing the elections under any guise.
Mr Sani, who reaffirmed the council’s confidence in the leadership of INEC for its consistent demonstration of diligence, urged the commission to make the general elections credible.
The IPAC chairman also commended INEC’s efforts in confronting the challenges occasioned by naira redesign and fuel scarcity through the chairman’s visit to the relevant agencies.
“I therefore call on all Nigerians of good conscience to take credible results of the election the way it is.
“At worse parties should resort to the law court for adjudication. Today it is an abhorrence and crudity if not savagery to see States Governors denying campaign venues to political parties other than their own. This is crude, primitive and uncivilized.
“Finally, I would want to admonish party leaders that having observed that the elections are conducted free, fair and credible, the result should be accepted for the love of our country,’’ Mr Sani said.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.