By Gabriel Ameh, The Sight News
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said that the off-cycle governorship elections in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa were crucial to the Commission.
Prof. Yakubu, who said this Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at a meeting with Civil Society Organization (CSOs), revealed that the Commission has accredited 145 organizations and will deploy over 7,896 observers ahead of the November 11 election.
The INEC Chairman who stated that the focus of the meeting was on the three off-cycle Governorship elections, noted that, “In the next few days, accredited organizations will be invited to collect the identity cards for their observers”.
He described the election as a multi-stakeholder activity, stating that, “In discharging our responsibilities, we will continue to engage with all stakeholders and one of such engagements is with the security agencies.
“In previous elections, civil society organizations have expressed concern about the safety of persons involved in elections as well as the protection of the process, including polling units and collation centres.
“Similarly, civil society organizations have on several occasions urged the Commission to intercede with the security agencies to grant you unimpeded access to voting and collation locations”, he said.
The Chairman further assured the CSOs that the Commission will continue to engage with the security agencies both at the national level and in the three States, and also reminded all accredited observers to strictly adhere to the code of conduct for election observation.
The INEC boss further stated that, the mock accreditation exercise conducted in designated polling units in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States two weeks ago, gave the Commission an opportunity to test the efficacy of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for both biometric authentication of voters and the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“Some of you observed the mock accreditation exercise and viewed the results on the IReV portal. We have received no adverse report so far.
“By this, we are encouraged that the test was successful, and we look forward to improved performance of the BVAS in voter accreditation and result upload in the forthcoming Governorship elections and beyond”, he concluded.
