The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Delta State says over a hundred thousand accounts have been registered online by eligible persons in the state, 72 hours into the commencement of ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The State Resident Electoral Commission Mr. Monday Udoh-Tom, made this know at a Two-Day Workshop for Electoral Officers in the 25 Local Government Areas across the state.
Oghenero Eghweree has the details.
Oghenero Eghweree
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says Continuous Voters Registration will commence in on Monday 28th of June 2021.
The Resident Electoral commissioner of INEC in Oyo State, Mr Mutiu Agboke stated this during a courtesy visit to Radio Nigeria Ibadan, at the Broadcasting House in Dugbe, Ibadan.
Mr Agboke while commending Radio Nigeria for setting the pace in broadcasting nationwide urged members of the public who are 18 years and above to come out en masse to register as it would be more of online registration.
Responding, the acting Zonal Director, FRCN Ibadan, Mrs Bolanle Owoyemi commended the INEC commissioner for being free and fair in electioneering matters while pledging the station’s continuous support for the commission.
Mrs Owoyemi urged INEC commission to continuously carry voters along in its electioneering process.
Lilian Ibomor
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has fixed 18th of June 2022 for the Ekiti State Governorship election.
The information is contained in a time-table signed by the Commission’s secretary, Mrs. Rose Oriaran-Anthony.
The commission quoted Section 178 (1) &(2) of the 1999 Constitution and section 25 (8) of the Electoral Act which empowers it to conduct election to the office of the governor not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent Governor.
According to the time table, political parties are expected to conduct their primaries including resolution of disputes arising from the exercise between 4th and 29th of January, 2022.
The commencement of campaigns by political parties in public is billed for March 20, 2022.
The statement affirms that the tenure of Governor Kayode Fayemi will end on October 15, 2022.
Amos Ogunrinde
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Ogun State is to create additional one thousand eight hundred and thirty two polling units for future elections in the state.
The Ogun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Professor AbdulGaniy Raji made this known while briefing the stakeholders on the expansion of Voter Access to polling units exercise held at the Ogun INEC Media Centre in Abeokuta.
Professor Raji explained that the exercise would increase the polling units in Ogun State from three thousand two hundred and ten to five thousand and forty two.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner called on stakeholders in the electoral process to co-operate with the commission to improve the access to voting in the state.
Professor Raji also announced the resumption of continuous voter registration, CVR, in Ogun State starting from the twenty-eight of June and will end in the third quarter of next year.
The stakeholders’ meeting was attended by heads of security agencies in the state, representatives of political parties and heads of media houses including the General Managers of Paramount F.M., Abeokuta and NTA, Abeokuta, Alhaji Niyi Odekunle and Mrs. Funmi Wakama.
Wale Oluokun
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it has created two thousand two hundred and thirty nine new polling units in Delta State for the conduct of future elections.
This was made known by the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Delta State, Pastor Monday Udoh-Tom, during a stakeholders’ meeting at INEC headquarters in Asaba, the state capital.
Mr. Udoh-Tom noted following the establishment of the additional polling units, Delta State now has a total of five thousand eight hundred and sixty three voting points spread across the twenty-five local government areas of the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, explained that the exercise which was conducted from 22nd to 29th of April, was followed by the verification of the conformity of the process by INEC teams at the local government areas in synergy with officials in the state and INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Mr. Monday Udoh-Tom added that the stakeholders meeting was in line with INEC’s tradition of keeping electoral shareholders abreast of changes or innovations in the electoral system.
Some representatives of political parties, civil society organizations and security agencies at the event lauded INEC for the initiative and expressed the hope that the upscale of polling units would upgrade the process of future elections in the state.
Oghenero Eghweree
As part of measures to ensure improved elections in 2023 and address requests for creation of more polling units, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is set to convert existing voting points and voting points settlement into polling units.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo state, Mr. Mutiu Agboke made this known at the enlarged stakeholders’ meeting on the state of voter access to polling units in Oyo state held in Ibadan.
Mr. Agboke highlighted the benefits of the exercise to include decongestion of existing polling units and improved access to electoral services by Nigerians.
The REC, who hinted that INEC Continuous Voters Registration, CVR, will begin on 28th June and continues for a year, stressed that the commission is migrating from Direct Data Capture Machine, DDCM, to INEC Voter Enrolment Device, IVED.
Mr Agboke also disclosed that the commission is building a new online registration portal to enable new registrants begin registration online and complete the capture of their biometric data at designated registration centres.
In their remarks, two members of the House of Representatives, Mr. Shina Peller, representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola Federal Constituency and Mrs Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, representing Oluyole Federal Constituency commended INEC for early preparations towards credible elections in 2023.
Also speaking, Oyo State Director, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mrs Folake Ayoola, promised to collaborate with INEC in addressing low voter turnout.
The Commissioner of Police in Oyo state, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko represented by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gbenga Ojo, urged state and non-state actors to prioritize what they can do to make Nigeria greater, while calling on politicians to shun violence and thuggery for peaceful elections.
The meeting had in attendance Federal lawmakers, Inter-party Advisory Council, IPAC, National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN and political party stalwarts.
Representatives of Nigerian Army, NSCDC, DSS were also at the programme.
Sheriffdeen Nasirudeen
The Independent National Electoral Commission in Ekiti State has called for the cooperation of all stakeholders who will be involved in the Ekiti East Constituency One State Assembly bye-election scheduled for March 20.
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Adeniran Tella made the call today at a meeting with the leadership of security agencies and other stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti.
Dr Tella who pledged a level playing ground for all political parties, appealed to them to conduct violence free primaries so as to present credible candidates for the poll.
On her part, NYSC state coordinator, Mrs Chikezie Nnenna promised to sensitize the corps members who would be used as ad-hoc staff to adhere to the rules guiding the bye-election while the state chairman of IPAC, Mr Ifedayo Iyaniwura expressed the association’s support for the exercise.
In their brief remarks, the state commissioner of police, Mr Tunde Mobayo and the Director of State Security Service, Mr Musa Halilu promised to ensure adequate protection of lives and prosperity before, during and after the bye election.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, had representatives at the meeting while the Ekiti State Director of National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr Fadahunsi Bankole was present.
Amos Ogunrinde
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Ekiti State has promised to partner with the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Ekiti State Council towards recording more success in the electoral processes.
Ekiti State Resident Electoral Commissioner REC, Dr Adeniran Tella made the promise in Ado Ekiti when the Ekiti State NUJ Chairman, Mr Rotimi Ojomoyela led other executive members of the union on a courtesy visit to the commission.
Dr Tella explained that such a partnership would enable INEC to engage the expertise and commitment of journalists in the area of information dissemination, voter’s education and address the issue of voters apathy.
He explained that the media remain one of the critical sector that the commission would never toy with.
Also speaking, the Administrative Secretary of INEC, Venerable Stephen Ojewande noted that some of the demands made by NUJ would be looked into.
Earlier, the Chairman of NUJ in Ekiti State, Mr Rotimi Ojomoyela solicited the support of INEC towards training of journalists on contemporary reportage of electoral processes.
Mr Ojomoyela, who also sought the assistance of the electoral body in other areas, promised that the union would cooperate with INEC before, during and after the 2022 governorship election to achieve success.
Olaniyi
The governorship election in Edo begins peacefully with impressive voters’ turnout in most wards across the state.
14 political parties have presented candidates for Saturday’s election.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, deployed senior officers and also ordered restriction of vehicular movement from 11:59 p.m Friday to 6.00 p.m Saturday to curb illicit arms, hard drugs, and political thugs.
There is a heavy presence of security at the Benin City office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC had said 483,796 voters have not collected their permanent voter cards (PVCs).
Out of 2,210,534 registered voters, only 1,726,738 would be allowed to participate in the election, the election umpire had said.
In a booklet detailing the statistics of PVC collection in Edo, INEC said the election would be conducted in 2,627 polling units in 192 electoral wards across 18 local government areas.
President Muhammadu Buhari had advised political parties, candidates and security agents to behave responsibly during the election.
FRCN Abuja
Some weeks ago, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu announced the commission’s readiness to use electronic voting in some elections slated for next year.
The INEC boss noted that, the move is in response to the health threats posed by the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
While promising to work towards the full introduction of electronic voting in major elections, starting from 2021.
He explained that it would give room for the trial run of the system for a decent period of two years before the 2023 general election.
The commission will also adopt electronic platforms for the submission of nomination forms by political parties ahead of governorship elections billed to take place this year.
In the Edo and Ondo elections scheduled for September 16 and October 10, 2020, facemasks will be mandatory for voters stepping into polling units, the commission has announced, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Electoral officials, ad-hoc staff, security personnel and observers monitoring the vote will also use face masks in the governorship elections in both states.
Polling areas will be redesigned to ensure substantial compliance with established protocols such as physical distancing.
The commission also announced that infrared thermometers will be used at the various collation centers, alcohol-based hand sanitisers at the polling units for election officials while methylated spirit and cotton wool are to be provided for the disinfection of the smart card readers after the fingerprint of each voter is read.
The commission added that it would regularly clean up the biometric register of voters while continuous voter registration is suspended forthe time being to prevent the health risks associated with it in the context of COVID-19.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, still votes and collates manually, even though registration for voting has been digitized.
Sadly, human interference in the balloting process has led to results being contested in courtrooms following allegations of widespread rigging.
Although, e-voting will discourage mass gathering of people, in line with the COVID-19 containment protocol, it has benefits far beyond the maintenance of physical distancing.
It has the potential to sanitise the electoral process, which is currently bogged down by violence, restriction of movements as well as the pathetic inability of the electoral body to overcome the challenges of logistics.
The announcement is commendable but there is the need for caution, e-voting can mean a variety of things, from voting via a device rather than a paper ballot to remote voting via smartphone.
According to report, fears that e-voting machines could be hacked have caused some to warn against their adoption in some countries.
When fully implemented, it will be the culmination of more than five years of the electoral body’s experimentation with technology in the organisation of elections.
The e voting system is expected to correct anomalies that have charaterised past elections in the country.
Countries that have adopted e-voting on the continent include Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo while countries like Ghana and Kenya have had strong digital components in their elections.
According to data from the international institute for democracy and electoral assistance, globally, thirty three countries had already adopted e-voting as of 2018.
Although, it is believed to produce faster and more accurate results, it is not as if e-voting is a panacea for all election-related problems that have been burdening the country.
INEC and NOA have to complement e-voting with massive political education of the citizenry to address voter apathy disenfranchisement and above all, provision of constant power supply without which e-voting will be a mirage.
Titilayo Kupoliyi
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has advocated collaboration among relevant agencies to ensure data harmonization across the country.
Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, INEC Oyo State, Mr. Mutiu Agboke stated this while receiving the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Oyo State Coordinator, Mr. Olusola Sotayo, in his office in Ibadan.
Mr. Agboke, who hinged some of the challenge facing the country on inefficiency, said it was high time the nation worked towards achieving a single central data base which would capture citizens.
He hinted that if agencies which deal with data could together to generate a single data base that would meet all demand, the nation would be better for it.
Mr. Agboke charged all stakeholders to ensure that Nigeria enjoyed an advanced and efficient database system, making reference to the United States and other developed countries.
Speaking on the essence of the visit, Oyo State Coordinator NIMC, Mr. Olusola Sotayo said NIMC and INEC were major data managers, hence the need for collaboration between the agencies.
While clearing the air on various misgivings about the operation of NIMC, Mr. Sotayo explained that only the first identity number registration was free, nothing that subsequent upgrade, renewal, and other services attract a token which could only be paid through the REMITA system.
The NIMC State Coordinator stressed that the scheme had advanced beyond the card-based identification system, stating that the number is the most significant and not the card itself.
Mr. Sotayo gave an assurance that the commission had taken steps to ensure that the rigour of registration is reduced with involvement of private individuals.
Adedayo Adelowo
Violence has remained a symbolic feature of most elections in Nigeria with the last general elections recording tales of unpleasantness in most part of the country.
An attempt to forestall this in coming elections informed a Stakeholder’s Election Forum organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
At the forum which kicked off with political stakeholders at Iseyin local Government, INEC resident electoral commissioner, Mr. Mutiu Agboke said elections had been turned to war in Nigeria due to people of inordinate ambition who wanted to occupy leadership position by every means.
He pointed out that any individual with political ambition must endear himself to the heart of the people through credible works and not by cajoling or forcing himself on the electorate through his political party during elections.
Mr. Agboke advised electorate to vote only people with proven integrity while urging politicians to shun politics of bitterness and violence.
He said the sensitisation was a step to forestall violence in coming elections.
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, had paid homage to the Aseyin of Iseyin land, Oba AbdulGaniyu Adekunle where he pleaded with the monarch to assist the commission by educating their subjects on the need to steer clear of anything that could truncate the electoral processes.
Responding, Oba Adekunle, acknowledged the sensitive role INEC plays in elections and advised that such must be carried out without fear or favour as well as respect for the votes of the people.
He urged INEC not to be intimidated or compromise truth in its dealings.
Olaitan Oye-Adeitan
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has pledged support to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to enhance peaceful polls at all times.
NSCDC Commandant in Oyo State, Alhaji Iskilu Akinsanya stated this during a courtesy visit to INEC office in the state.
Alhaji Akinsanya said to achieve a free and fair election, security agencies must always collaborate with INEC.
He further stated that the corps saddled with the responsibilities of combating civil crises, including protection of lives and property during elections lauded the brilliant outing of INEC, during the last elections.
Responding, Oyo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC, Mr. Mutiu Agboke commended the NSCDC for a job well done during the last elections.
Mr. Agboke said INEC, security agencies, the media and members of the public need to always be on the same page to collectively move the country to greater heights.
Rasheedah Makinde
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it will continue to train its staff on regular basis to ensure optimum performance.
The Administrative Secretary of INEC in Ekiti state, Dr. Muslim Omoleke stated this in Ado-Ekiti at the opening of an ”Electoral Training Study Cycle” for training officers from the sixteen local governments of the state.
Dr. Omoleke explained that conducting election required a continuous process; hence the staff should be abreast of new trends in the conduct of polls.
He said the training which is holding simultaneously across the country was to update the knowledge of the staff on Electoral process to prevent future challenges.
Dr. Omoleke added that after the training, the participants would in turn train other staff of the commission at the Senatorial level.
Amos Ogunrinde
