Guber Polls: INEC Okays 137,973 Party Agents For Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi
- As 16 candidates eye Bayelsa Govt House, 18 each in Imo, Kogi
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents have been registered to participate in the Saturday, November 11, 2023 governorship poll slated for Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states.
According to the Commission, at the close of the deadline for uploading the list of agents to the INEC dedicated portal by political parties, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa State; 65,274 for Imo State; and 37,995 for Kogi State, bringing the total number to 137,973 agents.
A statement signed by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumeku, stated that “the detailed breakdown shows that not all the parties nominated agents for the polling and collation centres across the States. Indeed, some political parties have no polling unit or collation agents in some States despite having candidates in the election.”
The Electoral Umpire also released an Information Booklet for the three governorship polls showing the infographic summary of registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected by Local Government Areas (LGAs) as well as the distribution of registered voters by gender, age group, occupation, and disability.
Olumeku further said in the statement; “The publication also includes the list of candidates and detailed information on the two polling units in Bayelsa and 38 in Imo State without registered voters. The Commission has repeatedly said that elections will not hold in these polling units. No materials have been produced for these locations and no officials will be deployed to them.”
On the candidates for the Saturday polls, INEC stated thus; “Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates for the election in Bayelsa State and 18 in both Imo and Kogi States. The elections will be held in 10,470 polling units (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).
“Each political party is expected to nominate polling agents for all the polling units as well as 649 Ward, 56 LGA, and three State collation centres.”
