•Fixes October 14 for mock accreditation of voters

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that a total number of 5,409,438 registered voters will exercise their franchise in the forthcoming November 11, off-season governorship elections in the three states of Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo.

INEC , in a statement signed by National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, also announced that it has cleared 16 political party candidates in Bayelsa, 17 in Imo and all the 18 parties in Kogi states.

The commission equally disclosed that it will this weekend, Saturday, October 14 organise mock accreditation of voters, noting that it will deploy both the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) during the exercise.

According to the statement; “the commission held its regular meeting on Tuesday and, among other issues, reviewed preparations for the off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states.”

On presentation of voters register, the commission noted: “For the forthcoming elections, there are 1,056 862 registered voters in Bayelsa State, 2,419,922 in Imo State and 1,932,654 in Kogi State, making a combined total of 5,409,438 registered voters for the three states.

“As provided in the timetable and schedule of activities, soft copies of the complete register of voters for each State will be presented to the political parties participating in the elections. For emphasis, 16 political parties are sponsoring candidates in Bayelsa State, 17 in Imo State and all the 18 parties in Kogi State.

“State Chairmen of political parties or their designated representatives are invited to attend the event which will take place at the Collation Centres in the State Headquarters of the commission in Lokoja, Owerri and Yenagoa on Thursday, October 12, 2023,” the statement read.

Giving more updates on the polls concerning mock accreditation of voters, the commission noted; “In furtherance of our commitment to deepen  the deployment of technology for voter accreditation and result management, the commission has finalised preparations for mock accreditation of voters in the three States to test-run BVAS and upload of polling units results to the IReV portal.

“The exercise will take place simultaneously in the three States on Saturday, October 14, 2023 from 8.30am to 2.30pm. The list of designated polling units for each State has already been uploaded to our website and social media platforms.

“Lessons learnt from the exercise will be taken into consideration to ensure the seamless deployment of both the BVAS and IReV on Election Day. This is strictly a test-run and not the actual election.

“Once again, the commission appeals to registered voters in the selected polling units to turn up with their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) for the exercise,” the commission appealed in the statement.