Taiwo Amodu – Abuja
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has urged eligible voters to make efforts to identify their voting locations ahead of the general elections.
Professor Yakubu gave the advice on Friday in a message addressed to voters which he personally signed.
Checks revealed that some of the voters who volunteered to participate in the recently conducted mock accreditation to test the Bimodal Voters Accreditation (BVAS) machine could not locate their polling units.
To make the process seamless, the INEC Chairman disclosed that his “Commission is sending bulk phone text messages (SMS) to citizens voting in new polling units. Similarly, the register of such voters for
each State has been sent to the Resident Electoral Commissioners for publicity, particularly through messages in local languages”.
The statement read in part: “As you are all aware, the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday 25th February 2023, followed two weeks later by the Governorship and State Assembly elections on Saturday 11th March 2023.
“In our effort to make voting more credible and result management more transparent, the Commission introduced a number of innovations facilitated by technology.
“Equally, we expanded voter access to Polling Units by establishing 56,872 new ones, in order to give Nigerians a more pleasant experience on Election Day.
“As I have said repeatedly, the right to vote can only be exercised where there is a place to vote. Arising from the recent mock accreditation exercise nationwide using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), some voters turned up at the wrong polling units. This happened both in cases where voters have been migrated to other polling units by the Commission and even where they voluntarily chose new voting locations during the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
“We believe that there could be other voters in the same situation. This challenge must be addressed so that it does not happen on Election Day.
“In order to ease the process, the Commission is sending bulk phone text messages (SMS) to citizens voting in new polling units. Similarly, the register of such voters for each State has been sent to the Resident Electoral Commissioners for publicity, particularly through messages in local languages.
“Furthermore, the Commission is offering two unique ways by which all voters can locate and confirm their Polling Units before Election Day. This can be done by sending a normal text message or simply visiting our website.
“The detailed procedure is attached to this message and also uploaded to our website and social media platforms. You can also send inquiries to our various public outreach platforms shown in the attached procedure.
“I urge all eligible voters to confirm their voting locations ahead of Election Day. In doing so, you would be contributing to our avowed commitment to deliver credible, inclusive, transparent elections.”
