The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would not count votes from polling units charaterised by violence during the off-cycle governorship elections slated for Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on Saturday, November 11.
The chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, stated this yesterday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State while addressing stakeholders at a meeting preparatory to the election.
He announced that all the bimodal voter accreditation systems (BIVAS) that would be used for the elections were customised for the commission.
The chairman who was represented by INEC national commissioner supervising Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers states, Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, also said INEC details were in the BVAS while the list and serial numbers of all the BIVAS were with INEC.
“Any BVAS you see without INEC details cannot be from INEC. We have all the list of the serial numbers of the BVAS we are going to use, the result sheets will be signed at the polling units.
“We have recruited and carefully trained all category of ad-hoc staff to be deployed to the fields, all non-sensitive materials have been distributed to all the eight local government area offices of the state; voter education and sensitisation is ongoing.
“We have made arrangement for the transportation of personnel and materials to ensure that polling units open on schedule on election day.”
Speaking further, the chairman said: “For more effective supervision of the process, we are deploying two national commissioners, eight resident electoral commissioners to support our office in Bayelsa. I wish to assure you of our commitment to free, fair and credible election come Saturday.”
Earlier, the commission had announced the deployment of nine additional resident electoral commissioners (RECs) to Imo ahead of the poll.
Yakubu said the commissioners were drawn from Cross Rivers, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Oyo, Katsina, Gombe and Yobe states.
Besides, he said the administrative secretary of the commission in Ekiti was among those deployed to provide supervisory support at the local government level.
On the agitation for the redeployment of the Imo State REC, Mr Sylvia Agu, the chairman said such transfer or removal could only be done if there was evidence of the allegations against her.
“We have to be convinced with evidence that she has done wrong before we can take action.
“As it stands now, we have no reason to remove the Imo REC,” Mr Yakubu said.
On the fidelity of the election, Yakubu declared: “We have configured the BVAS and carried out mock accreditation in the state. There will be no foreign figures in the BVAS at the polling units. We are confident that BVAS will work effectively.”
