The Commission’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu declared this during a consultative meeting with civil society groups in Abuja.

“The new mantra is that no electronic accreditation, no voting”.

He disclosed that INEC  will commence the use of a new electronic accreditation in the forthcoming elections in Delta and Anambra states.

“The new voter accreditation machine called Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) will be used in place of Smart Card Readers which were used in previous elections.

“For sometimes, many stakeholders including civil society organisations have called on the Commission to strengthen the voter accreditation process during elections especially with reference to the use of the incident form while the smart card reader fails to authenticate the fingerprint of voters,” he said.

While explaining the reason behind the change, the electoral body submitted, “Over the last one year, we have reviewed the situation and we think we have found the appropriate technology to address it. The functionality of the ZPAD has now been integrated into IVED, that is, INEC Voter Enrolment Device currently used for voter registration.

“On election day, the same device will become the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System – BVAS to be used first for fingerprint identification during accreditation and for facial identification.”

The commission will be conducting a bye-election for Isoko-South Federal Constituency in Delta State on Saturday, September 11, 2021, and follow that up with the Anambra governorship election in November.

The civil society groups at the meeting lauded the commission for the progress made in the use of technology in conducting elections. They hope that the latest innovation will further improve the voting process.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday , announced the addition of 56,872 more polling units in various parts of the country.

Its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who made the announcement at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, also noted that the move was in line with the resolve to expand voters’ access to polling units.

He said, “After wide-ranging consultations with stakeholders and fieldwork by our officials, the 56,872 voting points and voting point settlements were converted and added to the existing 119,974 Polling Units.

“Consequently, the commission is glad to report that 25 years since the current polling units were created in 1996, the hard nut is finally and successfully cracked after several unsuccessful attempts. Nigeria now has 176,846 full-fledged polling units”.

Prof. Yakubu said the history of creating and expanding polling units in Nigeria has been long and complex.

He noted that their adequacy and accessibility, in terms of number and location across the country, were some of the challenges that had to be addressed in the interest of credible elections.

The INEC boss said before 2010, the electoral umpire operated on a round figure of approximately 120,000 polling units.

He explained that a census undertaken by the commission before the 2011 general elections arrived at the precise figure of 119,973 polling units.

Yakubu disclosed that INEC has also made efforts to relocate many polling units from inappropriate places to public buildings accessible to voters, polling agents, observers, and the media during elections.

He listed some of the locations to include private residences and properties, palaces of traditional rulers, and places of worship.

The INEC boss attributed  the establishment of voting points and voting point settlements across the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to the several unsuccessful attempts to create additional polling units.

“The voting points were tied to the existing polling units and voting point settlements. The number of registered voters in a polling unit and the voting point settlement in the FCT, was used to determine their voting points, based on the upper and lower thresholds of 500 and 750 voters respectively,” he added.

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President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said his administration has no third term agenda and will do its best to ensure elections hold across the country despite increasing violence.

The President stared this after receiving the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and other electoral commissioners at the State House in Abuja.

INEC facilities across the country have recently come under attack.

In the last four weeks, no fewer than 11 offices of the commission have been either set ablaze or vandalized, the INEC boss. Prof. Yakubu , had earlier informed.

Buhari said,”I received a briefing today from the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the series of attacks on their facilities nationwide.

“These attacks are totally unacceptable, and we will not allow those behind them to achieve their evil objectives.

“I have assured INEC that we will make available to them everything they need to operate efficiently, so that no one will say we don’t want to go, or that we want a third term. There will be no excuse for failure. We will meet all of INEC’s demands”, the President assured.

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The post 2023: ‘Elections will hold’ – Buhari allays fears over third-term agenda appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

The  commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, discloses this during the European Union for Democracy Nigeria Donation to Youth Corps Members at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Yakubu added that the electoral body has started conducting the 2019 Election Review and the performance of Corps members will give special attention.

“I want to appreciate all official NYSC Nigeria here and those not here; presently we are conducting the 2019 Election Review and we promise to reward some Corps members with excellent performance in the Elections with automatic employment”, the INEC boss concluded.

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Addressing the UN delegation during a meeting in Abuja, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu pointed out six critical areas where the commission need the intervention of the United Nations including voters education, electoral conflicts resolutions as well as capacity building for political parties.

The meeting, as learnt was a follow up to an earlier call by the INEC chairman to the United Nations for assistance in the conduct of the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

The INEC boss, Yakubu highlighted critical areas the commission seeks the interventions of the united nations in the coming general elections.

According to him, it is not the international community alone that INEC is seeking support, but also seeking the support of the judiciary, especially that of the court of appeal and the supreme courts for quick dispensation of elections-related litigations.

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