The Senate on Tuesday vowed to overrule the
decision of the Independent National Electoral
Commission to create additional polling units, if
the agency failed to heed its advice to stop the
exercise.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Senator
Andy Uba, who stated this in an interview with
journalists, said the idea behind the creation of
additional units was good but the timing of the
exercise was wrong.
He said, “We have sent a letter to the INEC
Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and we expressed
our reservations over the planned creation of
additional polling units across the country.
“What he is doing is good but the timing is
wrong. We are close to an election year and we
have so many displaced people in the north-
eastern part of the country. So, where will the
INEC put the new polling units?
“If they (INEC) continue with it (creation of new
polling centres), we will pass a resolution to
overrule it. It is simple. And once we pass our
resolution, is he going to go ahead, saying that
he doesn’t care?
“There are consequences when you say you don’t
care, that is what it is, but I know he (Jega) is a
gentle man and he is a man that keeps to his
words. We had a meeting and (we) had sent him
a letter.
“He should know that his integrity, from what
people are saying, is at stake. However, that it is
not our business. And I believe that there is
nothing he has in mind against anybody or
anything.”
Uba, who explained that the exercise would go a
long way to solve the problems which the
electorate usually encounter at polling centres,
however maintained that the grouse of his
committee with INEC was the timing.
He said, “There are over 4,000 registered voters in
Wuse 2 in Abuja, for instance, and you know the
inconvenience when 4,000 people are expected to
queue up in line. It is not possible for all of them
to be accredited before voting would start. Many
people will come and would be turned back.
“It (the exercise) is a good idea but the timing is
wrong; that is all we are saying. Nobody is saying
what they did was wrong. Some people are
saying there is ulterior motive. There is no ulterior
motive in it; that is not the issue.
“INEC needs time to educate people to let them
know that their names have been moved to a
different polling unit, but it is a good idea because
it will decongest these polling units. Five hundred
names each, it makes things work faster.
www.punchng.com/news/senate-to-overrule-inec-on-new-polling-units/