The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has selected a total of 4 polling units in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and 432 others across the country for its nationwide mock accreditation on Saturday, 4th February 2023, ahead of the general election.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this at a meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, on Friday in Abuja, also noted that twelve polling units have been designated in each state on the equality of the country’s 109 senatorial districts.
Yakubu said “As you are already aware, the Commission has taken delivery of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the election. We have also dutifully tested each machine in our offices nationwide to ensure its functionality.
“The next step is to conduct field tests across the country involving actual voters. For this reason, and in readiness for nationwide deployment, the Commission is conducting a mock accreditation of voters similar to what was done ahead of the recent Ekiti and Osun State Governorship elections.”
According to him, a comprehensive list of the polling units, including their names and PU Code numbers, as well as their distribution by state, senatorial district, local government and registration area, Ward, will be uploaded to the commission’s website.
He appealed to registered voters in the affected polling units to appear on the scheduled date with their PVCs for the mock exercise.
The INEC chairman added that doing so will help to reassure the public of the robustness of our system and to strengthen our processes ahead of the General Election.
While noting that the meeting with RECs was to put finishing touches to INEC’s preparations for the 2023 general election, said there are “exactly four weeks to the opening of polls on Saturday 25th February 2023 for the Presidential and National Assembly elections to be followed two weeks later by the Governorship and State Assembly elections on Saturday 11th March 2023.”
On movement of materials for the election to various locations nationwide, Yakubu said the process is being concluded, while training of officials will commence shortly and ongoing consultations with stakeholders will be intensified.
He added that airlifting and delivery of sensitive materials to states of the federation has gone far.
“Accreditation of national and international observers and the media is being finalised. Critical service providers in the area of transportation have reassured us of their commitment to efficient logistics for the movement of materials and personnel to various locations while the security agencies have reaffirmed their readiness for the election,” he said.