Guber polls: INEC confirms 40 polling units where elections won’t hold

Information on 40 polling places where elections will not be held on Saturday have been made public by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Chairman of INEC and National Commissioner

Sam Olumekun, chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, released a statement on the lack of registered voters in 38 polling units in Imo and two in Bayelsa on Tuesday.

The national commissioner further mentioned that in Bayelsa State, 16 political parties are sponsoring candidates for the election, while in Imo State and Kogi State, 18 political parties are supporting candidates.

Olumekun remarked that elections would be held in 10,470 polling units (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).

Each political party, he said, is responsible for naming polling agents in all 6,499 wards, 56 local government areas, and three statewide collation centers.

With the three off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States quickly approaching, Olumekun announced the release of two publications related to the upcoming elections.

“This report includes an infographic summary of registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) gathered by Local Government Areas (LGAs), as well as the distribution of registered voters by gender, age group, occupation, and disability.

The publication also offers a list of candidates and details on the forty-two voting places in Imo State and two in Bayelsa where there are no registered voters.

The Commission has stated repeatedly that these precincts would not be used for voting. No resources were allocated to these areas, nor will any personnel be sent there.

Olumekun pointed out that a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents had been uploaded to the INEC dedicated portal by political parties as of the end of the deadline. This included 34,704 agents for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State, and 37,995 for Kogi State.

According to him, the breakdown clearly demonstrates that not all parties appointed agents to serve as poll workers and tallying agents in all of the states.

According to the national commissioner, despite having candidates in the election, several political parties do not have polling units or collation agents in some states.