We’re 46,084 staff for Imo, Bayelsa, Kogi elections – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to mobilize a total of 46,084 regular and ad hoc staff for the upcoming off-cycle governorship election scheduled for November in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.

During a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners at the INEC Conference Room in Abuja on Friday, Chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, provided this information. He further disclosed that these three elections will involve 5,409,438 registered voters who will cast their votes at 10,510 polling units distributed across 649 electoral wards spanning 56 Local Government Areas.

Yakubu emphasized that, as of now, all non-sensitive materials required for the election have been successfully delivered to the three states. He also confirmed that various preparatory activities, including staff training, are proceeding as planned. The Chairman noted that valuable lessons from the 2023 General Election have been taken into account to enhance performance in the upcoming elections.

Additionally, Yakubu mentioned that INEC has accredited 126 national and international organizations, collectively deploying 11,000 observers for the election, which is just three weeks away.

“Although the portal for media accreditation closes on Tuesday 24th October 2023, we have received applications from 80 media organisations seeking to deploy 1,203 personnel made up of journalists and technical/support staff to report on the elections.

“The 18 political parties participating in the elections are deploying 137,934 agents made up of 130,093 polling and 7,841 collation agents. We are also finalizing arrangements for vehicles and boats for land and maritime movement of personnel and materials,” the INEC Chair said.

Yakubu restated that the Commission is concerned about the prevailing insecurity and election-related violence in the three states election will be taking place.

“We have been reassured of adequate deployment by the security agencies. On our part, we will continue to deepen our engagement with the security agencies and more meetings are planned in the next few days.

“Similarly, the Commission will hold a series of meetings with stakeholders at the national level in addition to ongoing engagements at State level,” he added.