Ime Akpan
With 12 days to the beginning of the 2019 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released figures showing 23, 114 candidates vying for 1, 468 political offices at the state and federal levels and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
INEC’s national commissioner and chairman of information and voter education, Mr. Festus Okoye who disclosed this at an interactive session with the media in Abuja, said commission was ready for the conduct of the polls in 1, 558 constituencies and 774 local government areas.
He also said the commission has concluded the identification and recruitment of over 814, 453 ad hoc staff.
“It is a matter of common knowledge that the 2019 general elections will involve 91 registered political parties and a total registered voting population of 84,004,084. The election will take place in 1,558 constituencies and 774 local government areas. The collation of results will take place in 8,809 registration areas/ wards and in 119, 973 polling units and 57,023 voting points nationwide.
“The presidential election will be contested by a total of 73 candidates while the governorship election will be contested by a total of 1,068 candidates in 29 states of the Federation. The 109 Senate seats will be contested by 1, 904 candidates while the 360 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested by a total of 4, 680 candidates. The 991 State Constituency elections will be contested by a total of 14, 583 candidates. The 68 area council seats in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will be contested by 806 candidates,” he said.
On the collation of results, Okoye said results will be collated and transmitted manually.
He said manual collation is the only system that the law allows stressing that the commission has enough courage to conduct free and fair elections.
“For this general election, we are collating results manually and transmitting manually in accordance with the existing laws. Even in some advanced countries, some of them collate and transmit election results manually because in this age of technology, anything can happen. ”
“INEC has been consistent in following the processes and procedures in collating and transmitting results.
“If tomorrow the national assembly changes the laws, we will adopt e-collation and transmission of results,” he said.
He added that INEC will not allow resident electoral commissioners to recruit collation officers.
“The practice of recruiting collation officers centrally by INEC headquarters has been in practice since 2011. In all elections since 2011, including the 195 off-season elections since 2015, the recruitment of collation officers is centrally done by INEC headquarters.
“So, since 2011, no REC has been involved in the recruitment of collation officers. We will continue to recruit collation officers from INEC headquarters; we won’t allow RECs to do that.”
“Collation officers are not allowed to make phone calls or receive calls during collation,” said Okoye.
The commissioner assured that the commission will be fair to all parties and candidates.
“INEC has pledged to be neutral and will not pander to the whims and caprices of anybody or party.
“We have the courage and the stamina to provide an enabling environment to guarantee free and fair elections. We have the capacity to conduct elections that all Nigerians will be proud of,” he added.
With The Nation report
