This development comes about one month after Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, had claimed that no more voting points would be created by the commission.
In preparation for next Saturday’s elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has created 57,023 more voting points out of the pre-existing 119,973 polling units nationwide.
According to information obtained by The Punch newspaper, it was disclosed after a high-powered meeting involving INEC national commissioners and other stakeholders on Thursday.
Speaking on the need to establish more pilling stations, the commissioner said: “We have established 57,023 across the country because the number of voters has increased. We are creating more voting points and not more polling units.”
Shedding more light on the development, the commissioner explained that the voting points were carved out of polling units whose number of eligible voters exceeded 500.
He added: “A voting point is derived from a polling unit. When a polling unit has more than 500 registered voters, a voting point can be carved out of it and set aside but it is not completely independent. Ideally, a polling unit should not have more than 750 voters.”
This development comes about one month after Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, had claimed that no more voting points would be created by the commission.