Concerns Mount over Integrity of 2019 Polls on Re-introduction of New Polling Units

As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prepares for the 2019 general election, indications have emerged that the ghost of the creation of 30,000 new polling units in the run up to the 2015 elections has resurfaced, with the move by the commission to re-introduce new polling units, but this time disguised as Voting Point Settlements.

Should INEC adopt the format used in 2014 when it attempted to create precisely 30,062 new polling units, with more units allocated to the states in Northern Nigeria than the South, this could compromise the integrity of the 2019 elections.

Pointers that there were surreptitious moves to reintroduce the initiative was let out of the bag last month when the former INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, congratulated the current chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for among other achievements, what he called the “review of the polling units, registration areas…” as part of the commission’s “significant, commendable progress made to sustain, deepen and defend the integrity of the Nigerian electoral process”.

THISDAY, April 20, 2018

 

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