The Independent National Electoral Commission has deployed three National Commissioners and six Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the February 12 council election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made this known on Tuesday while speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting ahead of the FCT area council election on Saturday.

Yakubu added that the Commission has accredited 58 observer groups with 2,242 field observers, while accredited 45 media organisations with 340 journalists have been accredited to cover the election.

The INEC boss further stated that the Commission has reviewed the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the November 2021 governorship election in Anambra State, adding that the lessons learnt from the gubernatorial election were considered by the Commission to plan for the FCT council elections.

He said election results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV) after the counting of votes at the polling units on Saturday.

He said: “With regard to election technology for voter accreditation, the Commission has reviewed the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the recent Anambra State Governorship election. Lessons learnt from that election have been considered in planning for the Area Council elections.

“The BVAS has been configured and ready to deploy for the election. We have also made adequate arrangements for technical support and transportation to speedily respond in the unlikely event of glitches on Election Day. Similarly, election results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV) in real-time when voting ends and votes are counted at polling units on Election Day.

“The Commission has decided that no election will take place at the polling units without registered voters. No materials have been produced for these units and no personnel will be deployed to them. However, voting will take place in all the other polling units. For congested polling units, the Commission will deploy more than one BVAS to facilitate a speedy accreditation of voters. We will also deploy additional staff to these locations. We also agreed with the security agencies to deploy more personnel to ensure peace and order.

“For transparency, the Commission is making the hard copies of the detailed locations of these polling units available to all stakeholders at this meeting. In addition, soft copies have also been uploaded to our website. By doing so, we want to achieve two objectives. First is to ensure that voters in the FCT and indeed all Nigerians are aware of these polling units and the arrangements made for them on Election Day. Secondly, to seek the support of all stakeholders to ensure that these polling units are populated ahead of the 2023 General Election. We need the support of especially the traditional, community, and religious leaders in this regard.

“The Commission is also deploying six Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to support the REC for the FCT and three National Commissioners to supervise the conduct of the election. Our eyes are on all our officials, be they ad hoc or regular staff, to ensure that they strictly abide by the rules. All parties, candidates, and their supporters should do the same.”

Yakubu, therefore, warned against vote-buying, adding that the Commission would not allow the use of mobile phones at polling units.

“I would like to reiterate that voter inducement in all forms, including vote-buying at polling units, is a violation of the law. The ban on the use of mobile phones and other photographic devices in the voting cubicles is still in force,” he stated.

TheStar