The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said that election will not be held in 240 polling units across the country.
According to the commission, the polling units have no registered voters.
The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu revealed this on Monday at a meeting with leaders of the 18 political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Yakubu said no new registrants chose the polling units and that no voters indicated an interest in transferring to them during the last continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise, mainly for security reasons.
He revealed that the polling units are located in Edo, Kwara, Rivers and Zamfara and Imo States.
According to him, Imo State has the highest share with 28 polling units.
” there are 240 polling units without registered voters spread across 28 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“They range from one polling unit to 12 polling units in each State and the FCT, except Taraba and Imo States with 34 and 38 polling units respectively.
“No new registrants chose the polling units and no voters indicated interest to transfer to them during the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), mainly for security reasons. This means that no elections will hold in these polling units.
“In our avowed commitment to transparency, the Commission is making available to Nigerians a comprehensive list of these polling units by name, code number and their locations by State, Local Government and Registration Area.
” With this development, the number of polling units where elections will hold nationwide on 25th February 2023 and 11th March 2023 is now 176,606.
“the Commission is advising voters to confirm the locations of their polling units through a dedicated portal on our website.
” In addition, all voters who have been assigned to new polling units will receive text messages from the Commission indicating their polling units.
“We have also compiled the register of such voters and our State offices will give it wide publicity, especially for those who may not have provided their telephone numbers during voter registration or those whose numbers may have changed.
“Voters can locate and confirm their polling units before election day by sending a regular text or WhatsApp message to a dedicated telephone number.
The INEC Chairman however noted that the Commission is finalising the issuance of 1,642,386 identification tags for the Polling and Collation Agents nominated by the 18 political parties made up of 1,574,301 Polling Agents and 68,085 Collation Agents.
