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…Warns it won’t extend deadline for uploading of list of party agents
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed disappointment over the spate of insecurity and violence, including clashes among supporters of political parties and candidates, in the forthcoming November 11 governorship elections in the three states of Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi.
INEC equally warned the political parties and their candidates to eschew unguarded utterances and acts capable of heating up the polity.
The warning was contained in a statement signed by National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.
The electoral umpire however declared that it will continue to closely monitor the situation and sustain engagement with security agencies and stakeholders to ensure a peaceful conduct of elections in the three states.
The commission claimed that despite its efforts to notify and subsequent remind political parties of submission of the list of their agents, substantially number of them are yet to comply.
It lamented that in the three states of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi, only 55 per cent of the expected total of 189,180 polling unit agents have been uploaded to the designated INEC Portal.
The commission reminded the political parties that the portal will automatically shut down at 12:00 midnight on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, warning that there shall be no extension.
On the security situation ahead of the polls, the electoral umpire noted that; “The commission is concerned about the spate of insecurity and violence, including clashes among supporters of political parties and candidates in the forthcoming elections.”
“In our engagement with political parties, the commission has constantly called on parties to rein in their supporters from actions capable of jeopardizing the peaceful conduct of elections in Nigeria.
“INEC earnestly appeal to all political parties and candidates to avoid utterances and acts that may heat up the polity. The commission will continue to closely monitor the situation and sustain its engagement with security agencies and stakeholders to ensure a peaceful conduct of elections in the three states,” the commission assured.
Giving update on the upload of the list of party agents by the political parties, the statement read: “The commission notified all political parties of the opening of its online portal for the upload of the list of polling units and collation centre agents, which commenced on Thursday, August 24, 2023.”
“The commission thereafter engaged party representatives on the methodology for a seamless process. However, despite this notice and subsequent reminders, political parties are yet to substantially comply by submitting the list of their agents.
“For Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, only 55 per cent of the expected total of 189,180 polling unit agents have been uploaded to the designated INEC Portal.
“Specifically, 29,278 out of the expected 40,372 (72.5 per cent) for Bayelsa State; 51,681 out of 85,644 (60.3 per cent) for Imo, and 23,720 out of 63,144 (37.6 per cent) for Kogi State have been uploaded.
“Similarly, only 25.1 per cent of the expected 15,804 Collation Agents in the three states have been uploaded: 1,246 (26.0 per cent) out of 4,806 for Bayelsa; 1,638 (27.3 per cent) out of 5,994 for Imo, and 1,095 (21.9 per cent) out of 5,004 for Kogi state.
“The commission hereby wishes to further remind political parties that the portal will automatically shut down at 12:00 midnight on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. There shall be no extension. Consequently, all parties sponsoring candidates for the elections that are yet to upload the list of their agents should do so before the deadline for the exercise,” it warned.
On the online accreditation of journalists to cover the elections, the commission explained in the statement that; “the online accreditation of journalists commenced on 24th August 2023 and will close on 22nd October 2023. So far, 45 media organisations have applied for accreditation.
“The commission also wishes to use this medium to encourage all interested media organisations to take advantage of the remaining window to apply on imap.inecnigeria.org before the deadline on 22nd October 2023. For emphasis, late applications will not be entertained and there is no provision for manual accreditation anymore,” it warned in the statement.
