INEC briefs stakeholders on Saturday’s Abuja council polls

The Independent National Electoral Commission has reiterated its commitment to conducting a peaceful and fair election as voters in FCT prepare to elect Chairman for the six Area Councils as well as Councilors for the 62 Wards.

Addressing stakeholders on Tuesday at the Nigerian Air Force Conference centre, Abuja, INEC’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the meeting is the culmination of many stakeholder engagements with INEC’s FCT office under the leadership of the REC and at the Area Council level with Electoral Officers (EOs).

“As I have said repeatedly, the FCT is the only part of the country where INEC is required by law to conduct Local Government elections. Elections are therefore conducted regularly and consistently every three years, including bye-elections as the need arises.

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“The Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the forthcoming election was released by the Commission about a year ago in March 2021. We have steadily implemented all the activities on schedule, leaving only the last day of campaign by political parties on Thursday 10th February 2022 and Election Day which is Saturday 12th February 2022.

Prof. Yakubu said with only four days to the election, most of the major activities have been carried out. “Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) was conducted over a period of six months. Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) have been printed and made available for collection.

Non-sensitive materials have been deployed to the various Area Councils. Non-pharmaceutical materials have been procured to protect voters and personnel from COVID-19 in line with the Commission’s policy based on the protocols prescribed by health authorities.

“On Thursday 10th February 2022 i.e. in the next two days, sensitive materials will be delivered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to our FCT Office in Garki,” he added.

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Speaking on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), Prof. Yakubu said it has been configured and ready to be deployed for the Abuja council polls.

He also said 58 observer groups comprising 53 domestic and five foreign groups are deploying a total of 2,242 field observers.

“We have similarly accredited 45 media organisations deploying 340 journalists to cover the election. We will work with the security agencies to ensure that observers and the media are granted unimpeded access to voting and collation locations. I call upon the media and observers to operate within the context of the code of conduct for election observation and media coverage.

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