By Princess-Ekwi Ajide, Abuja
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has given the assurance that the forthcoming FCT Area Council elections will be credible.
Prof. Yakubu gave the assurance on Wednesday when he visited the FCT INEC office in Garki Area 10 to ascertain their level of preparedness for the forthcoming Area Council elections.
According to the INEC Chairman the commission’s mandate to uphold credible polls in the country must be sustaine as it had put in place adequate measures to ensure that polls in the country are free and fair
He therefore urged all FCT residents to come out and exercise their franchise while urging staff to do their best.
Professor Yakubu said, “we have done everything that we are suppose to do in terms of preparations, what remains is for me to hear from you and to assure the voters in the FCT that we have set the standard for conducting credible elections in Nigeria . The FCT Area Council elections 2022 will not lower the bar. If anything, you will see an enhanced conduct of credible elections in the Federal Capital.”.
For his part, FCT INEC Resident Electoral Commission Yahaya Bello said all preparations had been made to ensure a successful election but however lamented that over 265,000 Permanent Voters Card have remained uncollected within the territory even with the elections by the corner.
The REC disclosed that an additional 28,633 new registrants were added to the register of voters to be used for the Area Council elections, bringing to a total, 1,373,492, registered voters in the FCT.
He said, “an analysis of the CVR shows that a total number of 21, 508 males and 21, 478 females were captured in the exercise, before it was suspended for clean up and printing of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to be distributed ahead of the FCT elections. He said the Register of voters to be used for the elections have since been printed and soft copies presented to the political parties.
According to Alhaji Yahaya, “new PVCs printed are presently being collected at INEC Area Council offices including the Abuja Municipal Area Council office and the sub office in Area 10, Garki, Abuja.
