1 week ago
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has charged security agencies to replicate the Ondo state early deployment of personnel in the November 8, 2025 Anambra state governorship polls to achieve peaceful conduct of the election.
The INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu on Tuesday at a meeting of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Elections Security (ICCES), acknowledged that in spite of the challenging terrain in Ondo state, especially in the riverine areas, the polls were peaceful.
The INEC chairman said, “Our experience in the management of logistics during the last Ondo state Governorship election provides the template for future elections.
“Better coordination in the deployment of security and electoral officials contributed to the early commencement of polls and peaceful conduct of the election, in spite of the challenging terrain, especially in the riverine areas.
“The forthcoming governorship election in Anambra state must be similarly well coordinated. Together, we should continue to give Nigerians a happy experience on election day and beyond.
“You may recall that the Commission has already released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for two major elections. First is the Anambra state Governorship election to be held on Saturday 8th November 2025.
“The second is the end-of-tenure Area Council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) scheduled for Saturday 21st February 2026.
“For Anambra state, election will be held in 5,720 polling units while results will be collated at 326 Ward centres, 21 Local Government Areas and the state Collation Centre in Awka.
“In the case of the FCT, elections will be held for 68 constituencies made up of six Area Council Chairmen and 62 councillors.
“We will deploy to 2,822 polling units while results will be collated in 62 wards which constitute the councillorship constituencies. For the six Chairmen, final results will be collated and winners declared at the various Area Council collation centres.
“Furthermore, the Commission is also preparing for bye-elections to fill vacancies in the National and State legislative houses. As you are aware, nine bye-elections were conducted last year.
“Since then, 16 more vacancies have occurred in 12 States of the Federation involving two Senatorial Districts, five Federal Constituencies for election to the House of Representatives and nine State Assembly Constituencies.
“In due course, the Commission will make the delimitation details available to you to guide your operational deployment for forthcoming elections.
“Our experience in the management of logistics during the last Ondo state governorship election provides the template for future elections.
“Better coordination in the deployment of security and electoral officials contributed to the early commencement of polls and peaceful conduct of the election, in spite of the challenging terrain, especially in the riverine areas.
“The forthcoming governorship election in Anambra state must be similarly well coordinated. Together, we should continue to give Nigerians a happy experience on election day and beyond.
“There is, of course, a lot of work to do, especially in combating vote buying. The Commission is happy with our collaboration with the law enforcement agencies, particularly the anti-graft agencies.”
Responding, the representative of the National Security Adviser and a director in the agency, Hassan Yahaya Abdullahi, assured that the lessons learned from the isolated incidents recorded during the Edo and Ondo polls will be vital in refining security strategies, ahead of the forthcoming bye elections in some parts of the country, including the governorship election in Anambra state, scheduled for 25th November later this year.”
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