Barely one week to the governorship election in Anambra State, 86 polling units will not be used for the election, according to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
Yakubu disclosed this on Friday at a Special Consultative Meeting with political parties in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital explained that the affected polling units in the state do not have registered voters hence, no elections will be conducted the.
According to the INEC Chairman, the 86 polling units represent 1.5 per cent of the total 5,720 polling units in Anambra State.
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He also noted that some of the voters who have migrated to other parts of the state as their registration areas may be affected for the November 6 election.
Voters who have requested for the transfer of their cards to the new polling units may not be attended to even as the election is days away, the chairman added.
He said: “Understandably, the voters have also been more circumspect in asking for a transfer to polling units. At the same time, the commission did not use its powers under Section 42 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to allot voters to the new polling units to minimise the disruptions that may occur from such a decision given the forthcoming governorship election.
“Consequently, out of the 5,720 polling units in Anambra State, 86; 1.5 per cent have no voters. For that reason, the commission will not be deploying personnel and materials to these polling units. Furthermore, 894 representing 15.6 per cent of the polling units have between 1 and 49 voters. The election will be held in these polling units.”
“Our State office in Awka is arranging for stakeholders to inspect the materials at the premises of the CBN in Awka. As is the case in all elections, the sensitive materials are moved under security escort to each Local Government Area from where they are distributed to the Registration Areas or Wards and finally to Polling Units on Election Day.”
