Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said that the electoral umpire has removed 749 polling units from unsuitable places across the country.
At a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), in Abuja on Wednesday, the INEC Chairman said Nigeria now has 176, 846 full-fledged polling units from the initial 119,973 polling units.
TheFact Nigeria gathered that of the number, nine of them were removed from shrines, religious houses, royal palaces, and private properties.
Earlier in the year, during an appearance at the national assembly joint committee on INEC and electoral matters, Prof. Yakubu had said the 119,973 polling units created in 1996 were no longer conducive, as many of them were overcrowded and located in conflict areas, homes of political chieftains, forests and shrines.
He said: “What is the state of voter access to the polling units in Nigeria? The simple answer is that it is in a crisis and has been so for some time. The right to vote is a fundamental democratic right but existing polling units can no longer guarantee the exercise of that right because of the crisis of access to them.
“The crisis, I must say, affects all parts of the country. We have a quarter of a century — 25 years in this country — without changing the existing polling units.
“They are no longer adequate. They are not conducive, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What is the manifestation of this crisis to access polling units? The first one is overcrowding. They are prone to electoral violence and this sometimes leads to cancellation of elections and the declaration of some results as inconclusive.
“Some are located in conflict areas, homes of political chieftains, forests and even shrines.”
As a solution to the problem, Yakubu suggested that voting points should be converted to polling units and moved to under-served areas.
He said citizens could apply for polling units to be created, but it may take time because of administrative processes.
“Over politicisation of what should be an administrative matter under section 42 of the electoral act undermined previous attempts to find a permanent solution, thus disenfranchising millions of Nigerians,” he said.
