Wednesday, November 12, 2014

INEC Suspends 30,000 Polling Stations Plan



INEC
Opponents of more polling units before next year’s elections may have won their battle. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended its plan to create additional polling units.

The commission yesterday said the exercise would wait till after the general elections.

The decision was taken after a meeting.

A statement by INEC Secretary Mrs Augusta C. Ogakwu reads: “The Commission met [yesterday], Tuesday, November 11th, 2014, and reviewed reports sent in from States by Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on reconfiguration of the polling unit structure and creation of additional polling units.

“Taking everything into consideration – especially the controversy over creation of additional polling units that has been overheating the polity, and the apparent inadequacy of time for the exercise – the Commission took a decision to suspend the exercise until after the 2015 general elections.

“ The Commission, nevertheless: Will continue with the use of Voting Points, where necessary, to mitigate population pressure in overcrowded polling units during the forthcoming elections; relocate polling units from unsuitable locations; and

“As much as possible ensure that polling units are located in enclosures such classrooms, rather than in open spaces. “

The electoral body had announced over 21,000 extra polling units for all the states in North, and a little above 8,000 for all states in the South. This would have brought the number of polling units to 150,000.

The ratio brought INEC’s chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, under immense criticism from the three geo-political zones in the South.

The Senate also directed the commission to discontinue the plan until after the general elections.

The Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA), with the like of former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme, former Federal Commissioner for Information Edwin Clark and Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi as members, accused Jega of implementing a northern agenda.

The Southeast zonal chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described INEC’s plan as a great disservice to the unity of the country and demanded its reversal.

Jega said the distribution of the Polling Units was based on the existing voter’s register and was driven by the Commission’s desire to reform the electoral process for free and fair elections in 2015.

“There is not sectional or parochial agenda in this decision and there will never be any under this Commission,” Jega said.
His words: “The basic aim of the exercise we are presently undertaking is to ease the access of voters to the ballot box in the 2015 general elections and beyond by decongesting overcrowded PUs and dispersing voters as evenly as possible among all the Polling Units.”

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