The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its preparations for the upcoming off-cycle governorship elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa states.
The Herald reports that INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made this revelation during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja on Friday.
The elections, scheduled for November 11, will have a total of 46,084 regular and ad hoc staff deployed, and 126 national and international organisations, collectively deploying 11,000 observers, will be present to monitor the process.
Eighty media organisations have applied for accreditation to deploy 1,203 personnel, including journalists and technical/support staff, to report on the elections.
The 18 political parties participating in the elections will deploy 137,934 agents, comprising 130,093 polling agents and 7,841 collation agents. INEC is also finalising arrangements for the deployment of vehicles and boats for land and maritime transportation of personnel and materials.
The elections will involve 5,409,438 registered voters casting their ballots in 10,510 polling units spread across 649 electoral wards in 56 local government areas.
According to Prof. Yakubu, all non-sensitive materials for the election have been delivered to the three states, and various preparatory activities, including staff training, are proceeding as planned.
Lessons learned from the 2023 General Election are being incorporated to enhance performance in the forthcoming elections.
INEC recently conducted a mock accreditation exercise involving actual voters in designated polling units in the three states.
The exercise aimed to test the effectiveness of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for biometric voter authentication and uploading results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
Both tests were deemed successful, and INEC anticipates improved performance of the BVAS in the upcoming elections.
Concerns have been raised regarding the prevailing insecurity and election-related violence in the three states.
However, INEC has received assurances of adequate security deployment from relevant agencies. The commission will continue to engage with security agencies and stakeholders at both national and state levels to ensure a secure and successful election process.