No fewer than 56 million Nigerians will
file out today to elect the next president in an election believed to be
the keenest in the history of the country.
The figure represents 81.9 per cent of the total number of 70,383,427 voters that registered for the election.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party
presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and the
opposition All
Progressives Congress candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) are once
again asking for Nigerians’ votes in this year’s general elections to
enable them to lead the country.
The two political gladiators contested
in the 2011 general elections won by Jonathan. But this year’s election
has generated much tension across the country following the near equal
strength of the two major presidential candidates in the poll.
The Independent National Electoral
Commission had in February shifted the general elections as a result of
insecurity in the North-East and poor distribution of the Permanent
Voter Cards.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega,
had said that the commission was empowered by Section 26 (1) of the
Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to shift national elections due to some
factors.
He explained that the postponement
followed reports by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki
(retd.) and other service chiefs that their agencies would not be able
to guarantee security of the commission’s personnel in some parts of the
country. Jega had denied that INEC was forced to shift the polls,
adding that the electoral body took the best decision under the
prevailing circumstances.
“Nobody has forced us to take this
decision; it is a very weighty decision, but under the present
circumstances, we have taken the best decision and we stand by it,” he
had said.
The postponement of the elections was
said to have given security agencies the opportunity to reduce the
insecurity posed by the Boko Haram terrorist group in the three
North-Eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe as well as to allow the
electoral body to improve in its distribution of the PVCs.
INEC, in its bid to ensure credible
conduct of the elections, introduced a lot of innovations, including the
PVCs and the smart card readers to prevent rigging.
The electoral body also increased
existing polling units by 30,000. By this addition, the total number of
polling units across the country’s 774 local government areas is now
150,000 from the initial 119,973.
The creation of the additional units was
contained in an INEC bulletin signed by the Director in charge of the
commission’s secretariat, Ishiaku Gali.
Gali had said the decision to create the
additional polling units was taken at the commission’s meeting on
August 12, 2014 so as to decongest polling units across the country.
As Nigerians elect the new president
today, however, the electoral body has put the current total number of
registered voters at 70,383,427 of which Lagos State with 5,426,391 has
the highest number of registered voters. Nigeria’s commercial capital is
followed by Kano with the second highest number of registered voters of
4,751,818.
Meanwhile, INEC has warned the
electorate to shun activities that could trigger off breakdown of law
and order as they vote for the candidates of their choice.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in
Ekiti, Mr. Sam Olumekun, and Head, Voter Education in Kwara State, Mr.
Jacob Iyanda, asked the electorate to remain orderly while casting their
ballots.
Olumekun, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH
through the commission’s Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Taiwo
Gbadegesin, said, “Voters are to be orderly and follow the instructions
of electoral officers. They are not supposed to accept bribe because
that is against the ethics of the election.”
Also, Iyanda warned voters or politicians against canvassing for votes during accreditation.
He said, “Voters are expected to come to
the polling units with their PVCs. Secondly, they should follow the
instructions of INEC officials because they are going to move from one
point to the other in the process of accreditation.
“Voters should not canvass for vote,
they should not wear any clothe or cap that has symbol of any political
party. No symbol of a political party should be found on them. Voters
should cast their votes and if they know they want to stay back to watch
the proceedings, they should stay quietly and stay out of trouble.
“It is also wrong for them to accept bribe from party agents to cast their votes.
“Voters should make sure that once they
finish accreditation between 8am and 1pm, by the time the real voting is
supposed to come up by 1.30pm, everybody is supposed to be at the
polling units. Once the voters are called to queue up and counted, then
it will be difficult to start looking for someone who is not around. So
before 1.30 pm, all voters must have converged on the polling units.”
The Deputy Director in charge of Voter
Education in Osun State, Rev. Canon Stephen Ojewande, warned politicians
and their parties against making provocative comments that could create
bad blood among voters.
Urging voters to conduct themselves at
the polling units while exercising their civic responsibility
peacefully, Ojewande assured them of adequate security.
He also warned that anyone caught
canvassing for votes on the election day would be dealt with according
to the provision of the law.
Ojewande said, “We want voters to go to
their polling units with their PVCs. Accreditation will be done and
after this, voting will start. Nobody should canvass for votes during
accreditation or voting time.”
Head of Voters Education Department in
Oyo State, Mr. Ayodele Folami, said voters were expected to arrive at
the polling units by 8am for accreditation.
He said, “We have electoral guidelines
guiding the conduct of our staff, ad-hoc members and voters. It is
standard rule and having gone through more than a decade of democratic
process, we expect voters to have acquainted themselves with the rules.
They are expected to be at the polling units by 8am and cooperate with
our staff while verifying their PVCs.
“They are also expected to be
law-abiding and respect the next voter who could be loyal to a rival
party. Normally, political discussion is not allowed around the polling
units because it could lead to violence.”
Folami added, “At no time on the day of
the election will candidates or their supporters be allowed to campaign.
All campaigns stop before the day. Campaign on such day is against
electoral guidelines. Any politician who does so on the days of the
elections will face the law and could jeopardise his chances or that of
his candidate. It is also a crime to take bribe from party agents to
cast vote for their candidate on election day.”
In Plateau, the police said that they
had taken measures, along with all relevant authorities and stakeholders
to forestall breakdown of law and order during the polls.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP
Emmanuel Abuh, said that the police are also in touch with heads of
various institutions, including universities, asking them to sensitise
members of their communities against being used by unscrupulous
politicians or taking the law into their hands.
He said, “Just as we have been briefing
various stakeholders on the preparations for the elections, the police
are working round the clock. No segment of the society will be left or
neglected. Every precautionary measure has been taken to ensure that
there is no breakdown of law and order.
He added, “As you can see, all the
security agencies in the state carried out a show of force round the
streets of Jos and its environs. This is to show you that we are serious
about the election.”
Assistant Registrar, Information and
Publication, University of Jos, Mr. Aaron Abdullahi, said that the
institution did not envisage any problem during the polls as students
are currently on break till April 16.
Abdullahi said, “The students are
currently on break until April 16, but we have adequate security cover
on campus right now. UNIJOS security staff members are currently on
one-week intensive training from Monday, March 23 to 27. The resource
persons are drawn from the police, DSS, military and other security
experts.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Road Safety
Commission said the body had deployed 20,000 personnel and 413 patrol
vehicles along designated routes for today’s elections.
Corps Marshal, FRSC, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, said this was to ensure sanity on the nation’s highways during the polls.
The commission had drawn a roadmap
toward effective patrolling of designated routes on the highways to
ensure best road safety practices among road users during the exercise.
It said the 24 Emergency Ambulance
Response Centres at the various routes across the country would also
complement efforts of the commission.
The routes are: FCT, Kaduna, Gombe,
Jigawa, Taraba, Niger, Kogi, Ondo, Edo, Osun, Nasarawa, Plateau and
Kwara states where the centres were located.
He said, “Motorists are hereby enjoined
to ensure proper planning and management of trips through maintenance of
their vehicles and compliance with traffic rules and regulations.
“ Road users are strictly warned to
desist from all road vices such as overloading, speed limit violation,
non-use of seat belt, route violation (driving against traffic),
making/receiving calls while driving and night trips.
“Details of the objectives of this
special exercise include the removal of obstructions from the highways;
traffic control/decongestion and public enlightenment campaigns.
“Road users are strictly advised to
desist from night trips and ensure that vehicles which ply the highways
conform with safety standard,” the corps marshal added.
He listed functional head/tail lights,
wipers, tyres, fire extinguisher, caution sign and non-defective
windscreen as some of the basic conditions to be met by all motorists.
Oyeyemi urged motorists to call the FRSC
Toll Free Emergency Numbers: 122 and 070022553772 to report any traffic
crash or any other traffic-related challenges, for prompt response.
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