Africa
By Benprince Ezeh
THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has warned political parties to desist from vote-buying and insist against the use of mobile phones at the polling unit in Saturday’s area councils’ election in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, or face the full weight of the law.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC, issued the warning at the stakeholders’ meeting on the 2022 FCT Area Councils’ Election on Tuesday, February 8 in Abuja.
He said: “The ban on the use of mobile phones and other photographic devices in the voting cubicles was still in force.
“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 said.
The candidates participating in the poll during the meeting adhered to committing to a peaceful and violence-free election.
According to him, voter inducement in all forms, including vote-buying at polling units, was a violation of the law.
“INEC has accredited 58 observer groups, deploying a total of 2,242 field observers, including 45 media organisations with 340 journalists for the poll.
“The 593 polling units in the FCT were without registered voters, 1,328 polling units with between 1-50 voters, and 546 polling units with over 1,000 registered voters,” Yakubu said.
He, however, declared that election would not take place at the polling units without registered voters, adding that materials were not produced for these units and no personnel will be deployed there.
“The commission reviewed the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS in the recent Anambra State governorship election,” he said, adding that lessons learned from the election have been considered in planning for the area council poll.
Yakubu concluded that the BVAS had been configured and ready for deployment for the elections.
First published – Feb. 09, 2022 @ 17:30 GMT |
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Tags: INEC Prof. Mahmood Yakubu
