The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has again raised concern over the increasing spate of insecurity and violence as well as clashes among supporters of political parties in the forth coming governorship elections in three states of. The federation.
The commission raised concern over the failure of political parties to upload the list of their polling and collation agents on the INEC portal as required by the rules and regulations guiding the elections.
In a statement signed by the National Commissioner incharge of Information and Voter Education, Sam Olumekun mni, the commission said the action of political parties and their supporters is capable of undermining the smooth conduct of the elections.
He said “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.”
Olumekun said further that out of the total number of polling agents expected from the three states, the political parties have only uploaded 55 percent of the figures.
He said: “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 24th August 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% 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%) for Bayelsa State; 51,681 out of 85,644 (60.3%) for Imo, and 23,720 out of 63,144 (37.6%) for Kogi State have been uploaded.
“Similarly, only 25.1% of the expected 15,804 Collation Agents in the three States have been uploaded: 1,246 (26.0%) out of 4,806 for Bayelsa; 1,638 (27.3%) out of 5,994 for Imo, and 1,095 (21.9%) 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 10th October 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”.
Speaking on online Accreditation of Journalists to cover the elections, he said only 45 media organisations have so far applied for accreditation.
The statement said: “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.”
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