We are taking proactive measures to give voters pleasant voting experience on Election Day- INEC

… Uploads Oct 14 Mock Accreditation Results to IReV

Oru Leonard 

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said the Commission is taking proactive measures to ensure that we give voters a pleasant voting experience on Election Day.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu stated this while addressing journalists at Ganaja village polling unit, Ajaokuta area of Kogi State INEC Chairman said the Commission chose the polling unit because it is the largest polling unit and most densely populated in Nigeria with 13,000 registered voters.

“After the election, the Commission will redistribute the voters to other approximate locations. But for now, we’ll have to conduct the elections with the number of registered voters in this polling unit.

“And for that reason, we are deploying a minimum of eight BVAS machines on election day, Saturday 11, November 2023 for easy accreditation of voters.

“One of the challenges of this location is flooding. It is not only by the river Niger, it is actually by confluence, where River Niger and Benue meet and on our way you saw evidence of flooding. And that’s why we took you to Gadumu where if there is flooding before the election, we’ll pull the adhoc staff our of there and move them at first light on Saturday to this polling unit.

“But our preference will be to use this place as a super-rack where we will camp the ad hoc stuff overnight, so that they will do the setting up on Friday and at first light on Saturday, INEC officials and materials will be waiting for voters rather than the other way around. So this is one of the largest polling units in the country and that’s where we are here”, he said.

On how INEC tends to control the crowd on election day, the chairman said

“As you have seen the desks for the mock accreditation exercise, that’s how we have several desks here because there will be several voting locations on election day. So what will happen on Election Day is that we have broken the register alphabetized by the voter surnames. So if your name begins with an A, there is a particular location where you are going to vote but registers will be posted here on election day so voters will know exactly where they are going to register and there will be officials of the commission that will guide them as to the locations where they are going to vote and as I said, we’ll deploy a minimum of eight BVAS machines to ensure a smooth accreditation of voters here.

On feelers from other locations where mock accreditation is taking place

I’ve received as we are coming pictures from Bayelsa, and the turnout for the mock accreditation in Bayelsa is impressive. In fact, in Artisa in yenagoa, there is even a queue of voters waiting to be accredited. And we believe it is the same story that we’ll be hearing very soon from Imo.

On method of accreditation and transmission of election results

The method is as provided by law, electronic accreditation, electronic upload of results on the IREV portal and that is why we are doing this mock. So please disregard whatever was reported about what the REC was said to have said in Bayelsa. That’s going to be the procedure and it’s for that reason that I will advise you also for those who are registered on the IREV portal, that in the next two hours or so, they should go to the IREV portal you will see the result of the mock from all the three states, we are uploading, as we have done in previous elections.

On security threats, he added

Well, so far so good in terms of assurance from the security agencies as we can see, they’re even here for the MOCK and next week, Friday. There is going to be a high level meeting in Abuja, chaired by myself and the national security adviser in which all the security chiefs will be present, no representation to discuss the issue of security for the three states so we are on top of the situation in terms of security arrangement and security deployment.

 

On how to contain the threat of flooding in Kogi

The commission always provides electricity, we provide water, we also provide some toiletries and sleeping materials like mats at the super racks where the adhoc staff stay overnight. So as I keep saying that INEC is the only electoral commission I know which generates before election. It is also the only electoral commission that generates its own water, so close to the election, INEC becomes a mini power holding company and we also become a mini water board. So we’ll make sure that the ad-hoc staff are comfortable. Election is supposed to ride on the back of the national infrastructure.

So in the absence of that in many locations, we provide, we try and improvise to make ad-hoc more comfortable. So we’ll continue to do what we have always done consistently to provide security and to provide comfort, minimum comfort, for those involved in the elections.

Uploads Oct 14 Mock Accreditation Results to IReV

In preparation for the upcoming off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States scheduled for Saturday, November 11, 2023, the Commission today Saturday 14th October 2023 conducted a crucial mock accreditation exercise.

The simulation involved the utilization of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the uploading of polling unit results (of the exercise) to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

The primary purpose of this mock accreditation was to assess and verify the performance of the BVAS and upgraded IReV systems simultaneously in the three states, ensure that the BVAS operates flawlessly and ascertain that the process of uploading polling unit results to IReV is efficient and reliable.

The general public and all stakeholders interested in reviewing the data related to the BVAS accreditation and the results uploaded during the mock accreditation can now visit:
results-uat.incportals.com

The mock accreditation exercise is a critical step in the build-up to the Governorship elections. It demonstrates the Commission’s commitment to conducting fair, transparent and credible elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States.

By proactively addressing potential threats and fine-tuning the systems, the Commission aims at ensuring the smooth conduct of the elections and upholding the integrity of the democratic process in the three states. Official notice of Poll will be publicized on Monday the 16th October 2023.

Flooding: Sir, in the event of flooding in the state, as is always the case with Kogi, alternative arrangements have been made to relocate the affected RACS and PUs to where we can operate and enable people to vote.