INEC's Headaches: List of States Where 2023 Guber Polls May Be Cancelled, Why
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will have quite a lot to deal with during the forthcoming governorship election that will take place in not less than 30 states on Saturday, March 11.
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Although INEC has assured Nigerians that it is ready to conduct free and fair elections with the promise that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will function optimally on Saturday, the issue of insecurity is one that is often hard to contain.
Reliable reports have it that during the last presidential election, pockets of violence affected the smooth conduct of the general elections in some states across Nigeria.
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Legit.ng has highlighted some of these states where election violence may play out again as it did on Saturday, February 25.
Lagos
Following unrest in Lagos during the presidential election, the commissioner of police, Idowu Owohunwa, disclosed that several arrests have been made.
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Speaking with journalists on Saturday, Owohunwa said:
“I can confirm that several arrests have been made but at this moment it is still an ongoing process. So, I cannot conclusively say this is the number of polling units violence was recorded, but at the end of the day we will do a post-election evaluation and come up with specifics."
The police chief said this after violent activities of thugs disrupted the poll in parts of the state like Elegushi, Ikate area of Lekki.
Rivers
Apart from the protest that ensued from INEC's inability to upload results on its online portal at some polling units in Port Harcourt, there were sporadic shootings and destruction of vehicles along Igwuruta-Elele-Airport Road in Ikwerre Council of Rivers by some protesting youths. The protesters alleged that some miscreants hijacked ballot boxes in the area.
Bayelsa
Because of violence, INEC was forced to postpone elections in some parts of Bayelsa.
Briefing journalists in Abuja on the commission's decision, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the election was postponed in four wards with 141 Polling Units in Bayelsa, adding that voting was to take place on Sunday, February 26.
Yakubu said in Yenagoa, voting was disrupted, and the commission mobilised security officials to escort the ad hoc staff to continue voting.
However, he disclosed that the NYSC ad hoc staff were scared to return, prompting the commission to postpone voting in the areas.
Kogi
Similarly, the electoral body had to cancel the results of 11 polling units in Kogi last Saturday over thuggery.
Abdullahi Musa-Yusuf, the collation officer for Ofu LGA of Kogi, while presenting his results, said the results of 10 units had to be cancelled due to acts of violence by political thugs.
Musa-Yusuf said the political thugs invaded the units in Itobe and Ayaji wards and left with election materials, adding that more than 6,600 votes in those units were nullified.
Police arrest 16 suspects for committing electoral offences during 2023 presidential poll
The police arrested no fewer than 16 people in Cross River state for various alleged electoral offences committed during the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.
The suspects were arrested in Ogoja local government area of the state and paraded at the police command's headquarters.
A spokesperson for the Cross River police command, SP Irene Ugbo, while parading the suspects, said their arrest followed a manhunt for those who disrupted the voting process in some centres in the state during the polls.
Source: Legit.ng
