The All Progressives Congress, APC, has raise alarm over the creation of 1,973 extra polling units in Anambra State out of the existing 4,608 polling unit, bringing the total voting points to 6,581.
The party in a statement issued in Benin on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the alert becomes necessary because the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has not educated voters on the extra polling units, a few days before the election.
Mohammed said the development could either disenfranchise many voters or play into the hands of those who are already perfecting their rigging strategies. The APC pointed out that it is necessary to alert voters because the said extra polling units together account for over 800,000 votes.
"INEC, apparently in order to facilitate the accreditation and voting process on Saturday, has created these extra polling units from those that have in excess of 500 voters. This action in itself may not have diabolical undertone, especially because the extra polling units are expected to be located within the same place as the original ones and presided over by Assistant Presiding Officers.
"But in a situation where voters are not aware of this development, there is the risk that some dirty INEC officials could collude with unscrupulous and desperate politicians to move these extra units away from the location of the original ones for secret thumb-printing, thus disenfranchising over 800,000 voters and paving the way for the appropriation of such votes by vote thieves," The APC said.
The party therefore enjoined INEC to urgently give the creation of the extra polling units the necessary publicity; alert voters to the fact that the extra units will be at the same location as the original ones; ensure the deployment of adequate officials to man the extra units on Saturday and also make sure that enough voting materials are provided for them.
"INEC must be proactive, because lack of adequate personnel and materials for these extra polling units will create chaos on voting day. Therefore, adequate personnel must be trained to man the extra units, while voters must be educated so that they won't be looking for where to vote on Saturday.''
The APC called on its members and supporters in the state to spread the news on the creation of the extra polling units, as well as the fact that the extra units are located within the same premises as the original ones.
But INEC's National Commissioner and Chairman, Board of Directors of the commission's Electoral Institute, Prof. Lai Olurode, said voting points were created to reduce overcrowding in the existing polling units.
His words: "The commission has done everything to ensure that the election is successful. We created the sub-units (voting points) from polling units that had over 1, 000 voters and reduced each voting point to not more that 300 to 400."He promised that no eligible voter would be disenfranchised in the election.