FCT Councils’ poll: INEC will raise bar of credibility, Yakubu assures

By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has assured residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that the Commission will raise the bar of credibility in the conduct of the Area Council elections scheduled for Saturday, 12th February, 2020.

Prof Yakubu gave the assurance when he led the Commission’s management team on an on-the-spot assessment on the level of preparedness visit to the INEC FCT Office yesterday in Abuja.

The INEC Chairman, who used the occasion to meet with the commission’s Management team in the FCT, also interacted with Electoral Officers (EOs) and Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs) from the 6 Area Councils that make up the FCT.

Addressing the field officers, EOs and AEOs, the INEC Chairman said “we have done everything that we are suppose to do in terms of preparations, what remains is for me to hear from you and to assure the voters in the FCT that we have set the standard for conducting credible elections in Nigeria.

The FCT Area Council elections 2022 will not lower the bar. If anything, you will see an enhanced conduct of credible elections in the Federal Capital.’’.

Counting down to the D-day for the Area Council elections, which he noted was just 16 days away, Prof. Yakubu explained that there will be series of activities going forward.

According to him, “This is just the first, next we will go down to the Wards, and we will visit the Wards and engage with the EOs and their staff on the actual preparation on ground.”

He disclosed that the sensitive materials for the elections would be customized based on the number of constituencies and parties fielding candidates.

The INEC Chairman said “we have 475 candidates nominated by the 17 political parties competing for 68 positions. We have already published the names of the candidates by constituencies.

The sensitive materials have also been customized by the number of parties participating.”

Commenting on the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS as well as arrangement for the staff to man the devices, Prof. Yakubu said “Just like the last two elections, we will deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the election. We will finish the configuration of the BVAS for all the Polling Units by Friday.’’.

He continued, “We have the requisite number of staff, we have trained them, and we have the requisite number of technical support that will respond in the event of glitches on Election Day.

“We have made adequate arrangements so that the Registration Area Technical Support are able to move around on Election Day, in case their services are required.”

The INEC Chairman reiterated that the Commission will also upload the results from the Polling Units to the result viewing portal in real time, to enhance the credibility of the elections.