Breaking: INEC set to scrap idle Ogun polling units

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday hinted that it might scrap idle polling units after the 2023 elections in Ogun State. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Olusegun Agbaje, said some of the newly created polling units had not been effectively utilised in the on-going Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

Recall the electoral body in May 2021 created additional 1,832 polling units as part of its voter access expansion. With the development, Ogun, which hitherto had 3,210 polling units, will now have a total of 5,042 polling units. But the REC while addressing party leaders in Abeokuta yesterday, during the election of the state chapter of the Inter- Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said the commission had observed that the new polling units were not being used. Agbaje said:

“As we are all aware, the commission last year during the expansion of voters’ access to polling units converted 1,832 voting points into full-fledged polling units, thus, increasing the polling units in the state to 5,042 from the previous 3,210 that we had.

“It has, however, been observed that the new polling units are not being effectively utilised by the citizens and therefore call on you to as part of your mobilisation efforts draw the attention of the public to the need to populate the new polling units by registering closer to them.

Those who have registered before are encouraged to transfer their voting locations to the one nearest to them in the ongoing CVR. “The importance of this is that if after the next year’s general election, those polling units are not populated, no voting takes place in such areas, it means that you don’t need them.