The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday, 14th of October 2023, conducted the mock accreditation of voters exercise in Kogi State, assuring Nigerians that the Commission is fully prepared to conduct the off-cycle elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States.
Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu gave the assurance during his assessment tour of the mock accreditation of voters and visit to some INEC offices, polling units and Registration Area Centres(RAC) within the State, ahead of the Governorship election coming up in November 11.
At the INEC office located at Koton Karfe local government area of Kogi State, Professor Mahmood Inspected the non-sensitive materials that were already received and advised the INEC staff to use the standard template of the Commission for the forthcoming election.
“I am glad to hear that all the non sensitive materials are being received in in your local government. And I’m sure it’s the same story in other local governments as well. But it’s not only the receipt of the material that is important, you have to batch them.
“So on election day, as you move to the super RACs or the RAC centers, you will then move to the polling units. We must open the polling units at 8:30am on the dot and therefore you must activate the racks.”, he said.
Some of the polling units and Registration Area Centres(RAC) visited by the INEC Chairman include Crowder Memorial College Sabon-gari in Lokoja Local Government Area, where 11 voters had participated in the exercise as at the time of visitation; FSP Anebo quarters, Lokoja and LGA School, Ganaja Village, among others.
Speaking on the mock accreditation exercise, the INEC Boss expressed satisfaction with the optimal performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
According to Mahmood, the mock exercise which was replicated in Bayelsa and Imo states has recorded impressive turnout of voters.
On the issue of security, the Chief Electoral Umpire assured that the Commission is taking proactive measures to ensure that voters have a pleasant voting experience on the day of elections.
He said the Commission is already working with security agencies to ensure adequate security during the elections in the three states.
The INEC Chairman further disclosed that the Commission will meet with heads of all security agencies next week Friday in Abuja to discuss security issues ahead of the election.
“So far so good in terms of assurance from the security agencies as we can see, they’re even here for the mock and next week, Friday, there is going to be a high level meeting in Abuja, chaired by myself and the National Security Adviser in which all the security chiefs will be present, no representation, to discuss the issue of security for the three states. so we are on top of the situation in terms of security arrangement and security deployment”, he said.
Professor Mahmood however assured Nigerians that the method of accreditation of voters and upload of results of the November 11 governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states would would be electronic according to Electoral law.
In his words, the INEC Chairman said “The method is as provided by law, electronic accreditation, electronic upload of results on the IREV portal and that is why we are doing this mock”.
Speaking at a meeting after the mock exercise, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Kogi State Dr. Gabriel Longpet gave a brief of the level of preparedness of the Commission in the state.
He disclosed that all nonsensitive materials have been received and batched according to Registration Area Centres and Polling Units, adding that all RAC managers have also undergone training.
Lonpet disclosed further that they have received 60% of their budget and have commenced disbursement to local government areas to start activities that needed to be undertaken.
He however appealed to the Central Bank to be directed to give the Commission the cash directly to avoid delays, since there is a limit to how much individuals can now withdraw from commercial banks . This the Kogi state REC said would help in the activation of RACs.
