…Begins airlift of sensitive materials
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has disclosed its determination to proceed with the conduct of the February/March general election, two days after it expressed fears about the wave of general insecurity across the country.
Recall that INEC had lamented that if not tamed, the ugly trend of pre-election violence could precipitate a constitutional crisis by way of the forced cancellation of election results, or outright postponement of polls.
Presenting the register of voters to chairmen and secretaries of Nigerias 18 registered political parties yesterday in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the Commission has been bolstered by assurances by Nigerias defence, security and intelligence architecture, that it would ensure a conducive environment for the polls. Consequently, the electoral umpire said it has commenced the airlift of sensitive and non-sensitive materials to states.
Yakubu noted that with just 44 days to the General Election, and with the presentation of the register of voters to political parties, the Commission has now successfully implemented 11 out of the 14 activities on the timetable and schedule for the polls.
According to Yakubu, the implementation of other activities has proceeded in earnest. He added that at no time in the recent history of the Commission has so much of the forward planning and implementation been accomplished 44 days ahead of a General Election.
Therefore, the Commission is not contemplating any adjustment to the election timetable, let alone the postponement of the General Election, he declared.
He said, for the avoidance of doubt, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday 25th February 2023 while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold two weeks later on Saturday 11th March 2023.
As a further affirmation of the Commissions readiness to conduct the 2023 General Election as scheduled, the final register of voters has been compiled. Consequently, the register of voters for the 2023 General Election stands at 93,469,008.
The INEC boss added that already, substantial quantities of sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been deployed to various locations across the country.
According to him, the last batch of the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been received, while the ongoing configuration of the critical technology in readiness for elections will soon be completed.
In the last two days, we commenced the airlifting of other sensitive materials to States across the country. Already, some of the materials for 17 States in three geo-political zones have been delivered. Furthermore, 13,868,441 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) have been printed, delivered to States and are being collected by citizens as new voters or by existing voters who applied for transfer or replacement of cards as provided by law.
Once again, the Commission appreciates the patience of Nigerians who have been queuing up at the designated centres to collect the PVCs. To make it easier, we devolved the collection to the 8,809 Registration Areas/Wards nationwide. We have also uploaded the comprehensive list of the Ward collection centres nationwide to our website. The locations can also be identified by sending a short text message to any of the two dedicated telephone lines. The details are also available on the Commissions website, he added.
