INEC will send 46,084 workers to the polls in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi- Yakubu

The three states have received all non-sensitive election materials, according to INEC.

In order to conduct the governorship elections in the states of Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi in November, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would deploy 46,084 permanent and ad hoc staff.

Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the commission, made this statement at a meeting with the resident electoral commissioners (REC) on Friday at the INEC Conference Room in Abuja.

He states that there would be three elections, including 5,409,438 registered voters in 10,510 voting locations spread across 649 electoral wards in 56 local government regions.

He continued by saying that the states had already received all non-sensitive election-related information.

Yakubu stated that while other pre-election preparations, such as training, are proceeding as planned, significant lessons from the 2023 General Election have been learned for improved performance in the upcoming election.

Additionally, he stated that INEC has authorised 126 national and international organisations to deploy 11,000 observers for the elections, which will take place in three weeks.

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Despite the fact that the portal for media accreditation ends on Tuesday, October 24th, 2023, we have already received applications from 80 media organisations looking to send 1,203 people—including journalists and technical/support staff—to cover the elections.

The 137,934 agents that the 18 political parties using in the elections are made up of 130,093 polling and 7,841 collation agents. The INEC director continued, “We are also completing plans for trucks and boats for land- and maritime-based movement of persons and materials.

Yakubu reaffirmed that the Commission is concerned about the ongoing insecurity and violence related to the upcoming elections in the three states.

“The security agencies have told us that their deployment is appropriate. More discussions are scheduled in the coming days as we work to deepen our relationship with the security services.

Along with current engagements at the state level, the Commission would also have a number of meetings with stakeholders at the national level, he added.