11 days to 2023 Polls
- INEC cancels elections in 240 PUs, expresses concerns over violence *IGP: Oduduwa agitators plotting to disrupt elections in SW
- Military insists exercise will be peaceful in SE, across Nigeria
- Buhari to Police: All eyes are on you
By Tunde Opalana, Andrew Orolua, Ukpono Ukpong
Election will not hold in 240 polling units across the country in the coming 2023 general election as there will be no registered voters in the units.
Therefore, election will now hold in 176,704 polling units out of the 176,846 units accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This, is due to the redistribution of voters exercise into polling units across the country by the the Commission.
Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this on Monday at an appraisal meeting with leadership of the 18 political parties at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Yakubu said the 240 polling units remain invalidated as no voter chose them or wish to be transfered to the units.
The chairman said, “there are 240 polling units without registered voters spread across 28 States and the Federal Capital Territory (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.”
Reasons for the avoidance of the 240 polling units, he said was because “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.”
In its avowed commitment to transparency, Yakubu said 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 25th February 2023 and 11th March 2023 is now 176,606,” he stayed.
According to him, hard copies of the list will be made available to parties while Nigerians who deserve the right to know the locations of these polling units, will have access to as the soft copy of the list uploaded to INEC website and social media platforms for public information and guidance.
The chairman said efforts to redistribute voters to the polling units were in order to avoid the congestion that made voting cumbersome in many of them nationwide.
This, he said, 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.”
Closely related to the distribution of voters, he said , is the identification of polling units, stressing that the feedback received from officials and accredited observers following the recent nationwide mock accreditation using the BVAS, showed 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,” said Yakubu.
Two weeks to the 2023 General Election, the chairman said 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.
He urged 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.
“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,” he warned.
Yakubu expressed concern over spate of violent attacks on supporters of political parties across the board, resulting in the loss of life in some cases during the ongoing electioneering campaigns.
He appealed to Chairman and leaders of political parties to continue to call their candidates and supporters to order, while aldo calling 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.
Military assures of peaceful polls…
Meanwhile, the military on Monday assured Nigerians that the 2023 elections would hold peacefully in the South-East states and in all parts of the country in spite of threats by criminal elements. The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, gave the assurance in Abuja at the 25th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari’ Scorecard Series.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the edition featured the Minister of Defence, retired Gen. Bashir Magashi, who presented the scorecard of the ministry.
Responding to a question on the threat by the Simon Ekpa led faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to stop the elections in the south east zone, Irabor said no person or group can stop the polls.
“The armed forces is working in concert with the Police and other security agencies to ensure that the menace of criminalities from IPOB and Eastern Security Network are eliminated,” he said.
Irabor also corroborated the position of the Defence Minister that “no territory of Nigeria is under the control of the Boko Haram or any other terrorists group.”
He said all communities in the North-East zones of the country had been liberated from the criminal elements.
Irabor said the military was on the mission for final cleansing of the North-East region from terrorists.
He reiterated that the fact that the military had not ceased operation in the region did not mean that the terrorists were still occupying any portion of the nation’s territory.
Oduduwa agitators’ threat…
In another development, the Inspector General of Police has disclosed that plots are on by Oduduwa agitators to disrupt the polls in the South West zone.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections in 11 days, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba on Monday listed Oduduwa Nation Agitators, illegal small arms , violent secessionist campaigns by IPOB/ESN members, terrorism and kidnapping as major threats to the general elections.
He said that the Oduduwa Nation Agitators have been amassing weapons and mobilizing resources to disrupt the general elections in South West.
Baba said that Police intelligence sources point to the threat that the agitators are mobilising to disrupt the peace, security and electoral process in the South West geo-political zone.
The Inspector General of Police disclosed this during a strategic meeting he held with Command Police Commissioners, Zonal AIGs and Deputy Inspector’s General of Police on Monday in Abuja.
He said that besides this, there are other threats which the police must deal with as ,”Illegal Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) trafficking are being utilized to advance political violence, political extremism and intolerance, while cyber-bullying for political ends is on the rise daily.
Also, kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, and thuggery some of which have political undertones or consequences constitute major security threats to our democracy.
“Similarly, violent secessionist campaigns by IPOB/ESN members which have been targeting various symbols of democratic governance including INEC assets, Police Stations and personnel as well as other security agencies and Federal Government infrastructures”, are all aimed at disrupting the 2023 General Elections in the South East geopolitical zone.
“Other crimes of national security importance which could undermine our efforts towards entrenching a peaceful electioneering process, if not adequately curtailed include Banditry/Terrorism which has ravaged many communities in the North-west and North-Central with adverse effects on the economic and social wellbeing of the residents.
“Other major crimes are the growing activities of the Oduduwa Nation Agitators who, from intelligence sources, have been attempting to amass weapons and mobilize other resources towards disrupting the peace, security and electoral process in the South West geo-political zone
The IGP however charged the Police Strategic Commanders to ensure they stabilize the internal security order and create an enabling space for the peaceful conduct of the electoral process.
He said, “Despite the foregoing, the Nigeria Police Force has the responsibility to stabilize the internal security order within the country before, during and after the elections.
Consequently, I am reiterating that you ensure no political actor or miscreant is able to subdue any part of the civil space under your Command.
“Beyond these mandates, under the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended), the Nigeria Police is primarily responsible for securing the public space and the territorial integrity of the country before, during and after the elections and this remains sacrosanct.
This includes working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other intelligence and security agencies in the country, including both local and foreign observers, towards delivering a peaceful, free, fair and credible election.
“Further to this, you are to preclude the activities of quasi-security agents, who may be employed by politicians, from participating in the electoral process. Likewise, ensure that you closely monitor the illicit activities of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), “Amotekun”, “Ebube-Agu” and Hunter’s Association and other State-owned security outfits with a view to checkmating their activities within your jurisdictions.
Reiterating that “national security interest overrides our personal considerations and desires, he said, “Accordingly, as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari, I must therefore stress and warn, that as much as we will Police the election in the most civil and rule of law compliant manner, we shall remain apolitical and leave no one in doubt of our desire to give effect to the charge of Mr. President to ensure free, fair and credible elections across the nation.
“To ensure that our personnel and other security Agencies to be deployed for the elections have a clear knowledge of their roles and operate within acceptable legal and ethical standards which are in line with international best practices, I have directed the distribution of the recently compiled and printed handbooks titled, ‘Revised Standard Operational Guidelines/Rules for Police Officers and Other Law Enforcement Agents on Election Security Duties”.
Baba who also spoke during the commissioning of critical operational assets procured for the Police and commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, said they were procured as part of the broad strategic plan of the Force towards stabilizing the security space before, during and after the 2023 General Elections.
He said the assets they were acquired for purpose of enhancing the capacity of the Nigeria Police to manage civil disorder in line with acceptable national legal framework and global law enforcement protocols.
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The IGP said, “The acquisition of these items is to demonstrate the determination of the Force leadership to advance Mr. President’s commitment to a reformed, modernized, fully equipped, highly-motivated and citizens-focused Police Force that is re-oriented to the virtues of professionalism, respect for rule of law, due process, operational efficiency and best international practices in our internal security mandates.
“They were also procured with a view to bridging the operational gap in the Nigeria Police, position the Force for the stabilization of the internal security order ahead of the 2023 General Elections, and guarantee the attainment of a peaceful, secure, and credible exercise in the most operationally efficient manner.”
