593 Polling Units In FCT Have No Voters–INEC

Ahead of the area council elections for the Federal Capital Territory,FCT, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has revealed that 593 out of the 2,822 (or 21%) polling units in the territory may be empty on election day.

The election is billed to hold in the 6 area councils for chairpersons and 62 councillors on 12th February.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, during a press briefing on Friday explained that this “is because voters failed to take advantage of the expansion of access to transfer to these new Polling Units.”

He urged the press to persuade voters who wish to transfer from their present Polling Units to new ones to do so promptly in view of forthcoming elections across the country.

“After all, your support was crucial to the success of the recent expansion of voter access to polling units for the first time in 25 years since the initial delimitation in 1996,” Yakubu added.

Yakubu also said that young Nigerians could have a say in subsequent elections going by their large turnout in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

“As at Monday 17th January 2022, a total of 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians commenced the online pre-registration; completed the registration physically; applied for transfer to new voting locations; requested for replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs); and updated their voter information records,” he said.

Yakubu made it clear that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) technology that was deployed at the Anambra Governorship election of November 6, 2021, will be used during subsequent elections including the 2023 presidential poll.

“For emphasis, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed in the FCT elections which is the second major election after the Anambra governorship election held in November last year. The 68 constituencies cover extensive urban and rural locations sharing border with five States in the North Central and North Western parts of the country. This is yet another opportunity to pilot the efficacy of the BVAS in a different geographical, geo-political and electoral context. The same technology will be deployed in all forthcoming elections across the country. Similarly, for all elections going forward, Polling Unit results will be uploaded in real-time on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal,” he said.