INEC: 11,000 Observers Accredited for November 11 Guber Polls

• To deploy 46,084 regular, ad hoc staff for election 

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that it has accredited 11,000 observers ahead of the November 11 elections scheduled to hold in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed in Abuja Friday at a quarterly meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).

He recalled that they met in July this year to review the conduct of the last general election, followed by a retreat in Lagos. 

According to him, “Our reports of both the 2023 general election and the outcome of our review of the same election are being finalised. Let me once again appreciate you for the hard work, more so that the conduct of elections and electoral activities in Nigeria does not end with the general election.”

Yakubu noted that in the next three weeks, off-cycle governorship elections would be held in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States.

He reiterated that the three elections would involve 5,409,438 registered voters that would vote in 10,510 polling units spread across 649 electoral wards in 56 local government areas. 

The chairman stressed that all non-sensitive materials for the election have been delivered to the states.

Yakubu recalled that last week, the commission conducted a mock accreditation involving actual voters in designated polling units in the three states. 

He noted that the two objectives for the exercise were to test the efficacy of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for especially biometric authentication of voters, and to upload the result to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), saying both tests were successful. 

The chairman said the commission looks forward to improved performance of the BVAS in voter accreditation and result upload in the forthcoming elections.

His words: “While we are leaving no stone unturned in other areas of preparations for the governorship elections, the commission plans to deploy a total of 46,084 regular and ad hoc staff for the election. 

“We have so far accredited 126 national and international organisations collectively deploying 11,000 observers for the election. 

“Although the portal for media accreditation closes on Tuesday, 24th October 2023, we have received applications from 80 media organisations seeking to deploy 1,203 personnel made up of journalists and technical/support staff to report on the elections. 

“The 18 political parties participating in the elections are deploying 137,934 agents made up of 130,093 polling and 7,841 collation agents. We are also finalizing arrangements for vehicles and boats for land and maritime movement of personnel and materials.”

Yakubu stressed that such massive deployment requires a secure environment which is beyond the  immediate responsibilities of the commission. 

For the umpteenth time, the commission expressed  concern about the prevailing insecurity and election-related violence in the three states. 

Yabuku said while the commission had been reassured of adequate deployment by the security agencies, it would continue to deepen its engagement with the security agencies, adding that more meetings are planned in the next few days.