Ahead of the 2015 election, the electoral body has proposed to allocate more than 21,000 new polling units to the north, while the south will receive about 8,000. The plan is not yet finalized. But the ratio has angered the geopolitical zones in the south, with some calling for Jega’s resignation, accusing him of bias.
But at a press conference Wednesday, Mr. Jega vowed not to resign, and said those asking him to quit lack good information on the exercise and are being mischievous.
The Commission had last month announced its plan to create additional
PUs before the general elections next year to bring the number of units
in the country to 150,000 from the original 119,973. According to the
proposal, the three geo-political zones in the North will have about 21,
000, which is 70% of the new units, while the three zones in the south
got about 8,000 units.
According to Premium Times, fierce criticisms have trailed the exercise with some groups alleging that it was aimed at foisting the dominance of one section of the country over the others for political advantage. The South-South Peoples Assembly, SSPA, went a step further by demanding the resignation of the INEC Chairman and should not be allowed to conduct the 2015 general elections.
Mr. Jega, an indigene of Kebbi State in the North West zone, said the Commission’s plan is “sincere and well-intentioned,” and not designed to confer any political advantage on any individual, political party or region. He said though the outcry was understandable, but regrettable given the low level of public trust in governance institutions in Nigeria, the decision of the Commission to re-configure the structure of the PUs and create additional ones was “driven by our collective aspirations as Nigerians to reform and improve upon the electoral process for free, fair, peaceful and credible elections in 2015 and beyond”.
The state-by-state analysis shows that while Lagos will have the highest number of the PUs with 3,159 PUs, Imo State will have the least with 42...
According to Premium Times, fierce criticisms have trailed the exercise with some groups alleging that it was aimed at foisting the dominance of one section of the country over the others for political advantage. The South-South Peoples Assembly, SSPA, went a step further by demanding the resignation of the INEC Chairman and should not be allowed to conduct the 2015 general elections.
Mr. Jega, an indigene of Kebbi State in the North West zone, said the Commission’s plan is “sincere and well-intentioned,” and not designed to confer any political advantage on any individual, political party or region. He said though the outcry was understandable, but regrettable given the low level of public trust in governance institutions in Nigeria, the decision of the Commission to re-configure the structure of the PUs and create additional ones was “driven by our collective aspirations as Nigerians to reform and improve upon the electoral process for free, fair, peaceful and credible elections in 2015 and beyond”.
Stating that there was no sectional or parochial agenda in this
decision, the INEC chairman stressed that it was aimed at easing the
access of voters to the ballot box by decongesting over crowded PUs and
dispersing voters as evenly as possible among all the PUs. The “need
factor” more than political sentiments, informed the patterns of
distribution of the PUs being proposed,” Mr Jega added.
“Still, the Commission has not been unmindful of the political nature of the exercise; and that is why it took the decision that (1) no state will lose any PUs from its stock of existing units, no matter the statistical outlook when voter population is exaggerated into units of 500 persons; and (ii) every state will get some additional polling units from 15% of the total being newly created on the basis of ‘equality principle’ regardless of the number of PUs already existing in each state in comparison to the voter population,” he said.
“We have already made the computed figures in this regard public. Contrary to the argument by critics, the Commission is not working on imaginary population sizes based on perceived patterns of migration by potential voters, rather, it is working with the documented register of voters as we have it at the moment.”
“The simplest way to distribute the 150,000 polling units is to divide the number of registered voters in each state by 500 (maximum of registered per polling unit.)"
“Still, the Commission has not been unmindful of the political nature of the exercise; and that is why it took the decision that (1) no state will lose any PUs from its stock of existing units, no matter the statistical outlook when voter population is exaggerated into units of 500 persons; and (ii) every state will get some additional polling units from 15% of the total being newly created on the basis of ‘equality principle’ regardless of the number of PUs already existing in each state in comparison to the voter population,” he said.
“We have already made the computed figures in this regard public. Contrary to the argument by critics, the Commission is not working on imaginary population sizes based on perceived patterns of migration by potential voters, rather, it is working with the documented register of voters as we have it at the moment.”
“The simplest way to distribute the 150,000 polling units is to divide the number of registered voters in each state by 500 (maximum of registered per polling unit.)"
He explained that the present structure of PUs was created in 1996 by
the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, NECOM, which
created 120,000 PUs and 8,809 wards (registration areas). According to
him, the structure of the polling units had been used for the 1999,
2003, 2007 and 2011 general elections and that there had been
exponential growth in Nigeria’s populations as well as severe
demographic shifts resulting from new settlements in major urban areas
since 1996.
“About 150,000 polling units are required to ensure right-sizing of our polling units based on the number of registered voters,” he said.
The INEC chairman said the Commission had no plan to reverse the decision, stressing “We have taken a decision; we have not yet implemented that decision. People, because they don’t have enough information misunderstood it, some perhaps mischievously. But we are hoping that the information we are providing will make people understand.
“I cannot sit down here and tell you whether we will reverse or we will not reverse. What is clear is that many people are taking hard position on the issue when they are ill-informed and they are very passionate and emotive about it.”
He slammed those calling for his removal as INEC Chairman: “Forget about removal. Any of us here can fall and die tomorrow. So long as we are here we will do what we believe is right. We did not lobby anybody to come here. We were brought here because people knew we will do the right thing and we will continue to do it as long as we have the opportunity to continue to do it.
“So, don’t worry. I myself I won’t wait until I am fired. The day I know myself, I can’t do this job to satisfy my conscience I will leave. I am here in INEC to do national service and I believe I am making sacrifices, not only myself but also the national commissioners.”
“About 150,000 polling units are required to ensure right-sizing of our polling units based on the number of registered voters,” he said.
The INEC chairman said the Commission had no plan to reverse the decision, stressing “We have taken a decision; we have not yet implemented that decision. People, because they don’t have enough information misunderstood it, some perhaps mischievously. But we are hoping that the information we are providing will make people understand.
“I cannot sit down here and tell you whether we will reverse or we will not reverse. What is clear is that many people are taking hard position on the issue when they are ill-informed and they are very passionate and emotive about it.”
He slammed those calling for his removal as INEC Chairman: “Forget about removal. Any of us here can fall and die tomorrow. So long as we are here we will do what we believe is right. We did not lobby anybody to come here. We were brought here because people knew we will do the right thing and we will continue to do it as long as we have the opportunity to continue to do it.
“So, don’t worry. I myself I won’t wait until I am fired. The day I know myself, I can’t do this job to satisfy my conscience I will leave. I am here in INEC to do national service and I believe I am making sacrifices, not only myself but also the national commissioners.”
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