INEC speaks about threat of Security Challenges to 2023 General Elections

04 Mar INEC speaks about threat of Security Challenges to 2023 General Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised the alarm over the threat of current security challenges in the country, which have led to increase in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), to the 2023 elections.

According to the commission, many of the IDPs are in the houses of friends and relatives and have lost their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), adding that it is practically impossible to recreate their constituencies and polling units.

This, among other security challenges, INEC said, may mar the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

Chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who  expressed these concerns on Thursday in Abuja at a town hall meeting organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), however reassured that the commission was determined to surmount these challenges and conduct free, fair, credible and inclusive elections

Yakubu, who was represented by the national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr Festus Okoye, noted that while it is easy to recreate constituencies and polling units in clustered IDP camps, it is next to impossible to do so for persons staying in scattered locations.

Okoye said, the commission will print new PVCs for IDPs and recreate their polling units in their camps, where they will be eligible to vote in some of the elections depending on their location and their proximity to their state and federal constituencies.

“This is in accord with section 24(1) of the Electoral Act, which provides that “In the event of an emergency affecting an election, the commission shall, as far as practicable, ensure that persons displaced as a result of the emergency are not disenfranchised.

“Based on this, the commission developed regulations and guidelines on IDP voting and will implement the intendment of the law and the regulations and guidelines.

“As you are aware, the commission is currently at the terminal phase of its continuous Voters Registration Exercise (CVR). There are so many communities that are still inaccessible to our registration officers. In the next few weeks, the commission will roll out modalities for the further devolution and rotation of the CVR to our registration areas, and the security of our personnel and the registrants are fundamental to the success of the exercise.

“We are determined to register all eligible registrants but will not expose our staff to unnecessary danger. We will roll out and roll back depending on the security situation in different parts of the country,” he said.

Speaking further, he said the commission had introduced new and creative changes in the enumeration of voters, the party nomination processes and the conduct of elections.

He disclosed that the commission was currently conducting the Continuous Voters Registration Exercise (CVR) both physically and online using the new INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED).