INEC Fixes Ekiti, Osun Governorship election for June 18, July 16 2022
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has relocated 749 polling units and also unveiled 56,872 new polling units bringing the total number of polling units to 176,846.
According to the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu who made the announcement on Wednesday at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, he said that the expansion is to increase voters’ access to polling units.
“After wide-ranging consultations with stakeholders and fieldwork by our officials, the 56,872 voting points and voting point settlements were converted and added to the existing 119,974 Polling Units.
“Consequently, the commission is glad to report that 25 years since the current polling units were created in 1996, the hard nut is finally and successfully cracked after several unsuccessful attempts. Nigeria now has 176,846 full-fledged polling units,” he said.
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Professor Yakubu also disclosed that INEC has also made efforts to relocate many polling units from inappropriate places to public buildings accessible to voters, polling agents, observers, and the media during elections.
He listed some of the locations to include private residences and properties, palaces of traditional rulers, and places of worship.
The INEC Chairman attributed the establishment of voting points and voting point settlements across the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to the several unsuccessful attempts to create additional polling units.
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“The voting points were tied to the existing polling units and voting point settlements. The number of registered voters in a polling unit and the voting point settlement in the FCT was used to determine their voting points, based on the upper and lower thresholds of 500 and 750 voters respectively,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Commission (INEC) has scheduled the Ekiti and Osun States Governorship election to hold on Saturday, June 18, and Saturday, July 16, 2022.
INEC Chairman said the detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the two elections have been uploaded on the Commission’s website and social media platforms.