The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Anambra State, Dr Nwachukwu Orji, on Friday, said the Independent National Electoral Commission had approached the government to grant its permission to close down schools for the training of ad hoc staff.
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This was as INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission would require about 26,000 election duty staff for the November 6 governorship poll.
The commission expressed confidence that the election would take place, saying the security situation in the state was not out of control.
Orji, while speaking at a dialogue session organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, dismissed suggestions that INEC was running behind schedule for the election.
He said, “For the training of ad hoc staff, we will need to use school facilities. We are talking with the Anambra state government to grant us permission for the closure of schools for some days to enable us to train ad hoc staff.
“If the election is to come up next week, we will be able to deliver. We have all the materials we need and we are working within the time schedule. We hope that the environment will be conducive to deliver on the election.”
The Convener of the NCSSR, Ms Eneh Obi, described the violence and insecurity building up ahead of the governorship poll as worrisome.
She appealed to those fueling the violence to retrace their steps, warning that it would be counterproductive for violence derail the poll.
She said, “We had a meeting two days ago in Anambra State and a number of citizens are visibly scared of coming out for that election and that is why we are calling on the civil society in the state and the citizens to prevail on those fomenting trouble to stop.”
The INEC Chairman said the commission had uncovered about 62,698 persons involved in double and multiple registrations, warning that there were consequences of such action.
He said, “We have almost completed the recruitment of ad hoc staff for the election. In all, about 26,000 election duty staff are required. Although there are still some minor shortfalls, we believe that we will complete the recruitment in time for their training scheduled to commence on October 19, 2021.
“The training of other categories of staff, such as Electoral Officers and Assistant Electoral Officers has been completed, while the training of Supervisory Presiding Officers will commence soon.”
He explained that 138,802 persons completed registration, including applications for transfer and requests for replacement of lost, damaged or defaced Permanent Voters Cards.
“However, in the process of cleaning up the registration data, we discovered that many previously registered persons re-registered afresh. The commission found out that some 62,698 persons who are already registered voters in Anambra State went ahead to register again.
“These double or multiple registrations are invalid by law. We have archived these registrations and will not print new PVCs for them. Their old PVCs remain valid and they can use them to vote at the polling units where they registered and probably voted in previous elections.
“Accordingly, the number of registered voters in Anambra State now stands at 2,525,471. We shall provide a detailed breakdown of the figure for public information in the days ahead,” he said.
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