Voter Apathy
INEC approves creation of 4,861 additional polling units in Lagos
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Lagos State, has concluded plans to create additional 4,861 polling units in the state. The Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos State, Sam Olumekun, who announced this at the Election Stakeholders’ forum on Monday, held in Ikeja, explained that the move became necessary to tackle the usual voter apathy and boost voter access to polling units in exercising their fundamental rights to vote. The forum was part of sensitization and public enlightenment of Stakeholders by the commission towards engendering active participation in future election exercises. He stated: “Polling Units are central to the electoral process and therefore democracy at large. Voter access to Polling Units is at the very heart of representative democracy...
2023: INEC reassures on continuous voters registration
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it plans to resume Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) across the country in the second quarter of 2021. Mrs Wunmi Balogun, INEC Head of ICT, Ibadan, said this at the training of electoral officers and assistants electoral officers on access to Polling Units (PUs) in Ibadan on Monday. Balogun added that the commission would be using INEC Voters Enrolment Devices for the CVR instead of the Direct Data Capturing Machine. Mr Mutiu Agboke, the state INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) said the training was to address the challenges being faced by voters on access to polling units during elections. Newsmen report that the workshop was specifically held for INEC’s head of departments, electoral officers and assistants electoral of...
Voter apathy mars Kano council poll
Saturday’s Kano State local government election, recorded low turnout of voters, as only a handful voters were seen in polling units, newsmen reports. NAN correspondent who went round polling units across the metropolis, reports that there was voter apathy in almost all polling units during the poll. Areas visited included Chedi, Zage, Zango, Gandu, Sharada, Wailawa, Dorayi, Kabuga, Rijiyar Zaki in Kano Municipal, Gwale, and Ungogo local government areas of the state. NAN reports that the election started around 10:30 a.m. with heavy presence of policemen and other security personnel.However, voters interviewed, expressed delight at participating in the election. Malam Jazuli Yusuf a voter in Gwale, said he voted at the election to exercise his civic right. Yusuf said the election would en...
Lagos by-election: Assemblyman advises INEC to improve on voter registration
Rotimi Abiru, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has advised INEC to improve on the voter registration exercise conducted in the country. Abiru, representing Shomolu Constituency 2, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen after he had voted at his Gbagada Ward, G PU030 during Saturday’s by-election. He said since the law permitted citizens that had attained 18 years to vote, then they would be disenfranchised if the exercise was conducted only every four years. The Assemblyman said the commission should conduct voter registration every year instead of the four years exercise to allow citizens that had attained voting age to vote. “INEC should step up the game in the area of voter registration. The process should be improved upon as it should not be a four-year periodic exe...
Lagos by-elections: INEC cautions against vote buying, others
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday cautioned politicians against vote buying, food sharing and other activities capable of buying the conscience of voters at polling units duing Saturday’s Lagos East by-elections. Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, INEC Supervisory National Commissioner in charge of the by-elections, told newsmen in Lagos that the commission would not tolerate any act that would discredit the polls. Answering questions on how the commission intended to tackle vote buying, Ogunmola said that though INEC was not a security agency, it had done quite a lot in ensuring that the menace was reduced. “We are in collaboration with EFCC and ICPC and some other security agencies in ensuring that people that perpetrate such acts were brought to book. “The issue of makin...
INEC chief wants Senate to accelerate Electoral Act amendment
The nominee for the position of Chairperson for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has appealed to the National Assembly to expeditiously pass the Electoral Act Amendment Bill before the end of first quarter of 2021. Yakubu made the call in Abuja on Thursday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on INEC for screening. President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday sought Senate’s confirmation of Yakubu as INEC chairperson for a second term. Yakubu said the passage of the Electoral Act was critical for the success of the 2023 general elections and ultimately the nation’s electoral system. He said that INEC under his leadership had recommended some areas of amendments in the Electoral Act. He said that if confirmed, INEC under his watch would consolidat...
