The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Rivers State has assured the public of the commission’s plans to expand access to polling units across the country.
A statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday and signed by the Public Affairs Officer, Geraldine Ekelemu for the Resident Electoral Commissioner, said the clarification became necessary so as to put unscrupulous persons out of business.
“INEC, Rivers State is constrained to make this clarification so that no unscrupulous person takes advantage of innocent members of the public to claim ability to attract, influence, create or expand access to polling units anywhere.
“The commission wishes to assure voters in the state that there are plans by INEC to convert the existing voting points and voting point settlements in the country into full fledged polling units.
“The plan is to expand access to polling units and decongest existing polling units clustered in the locations.
“The commission is currently holding national consultations with various stakeholders and would later hold similar consultations at the state and local government levels on the modalities and parameters for relocating some of the voting points.
“These processes would be comprehensive enough to take care of the interests of all voters and communities.
“It is therefore unnecessary for citizens and communities to send unsolicited requests for creation of voting units to INEC because the commission, as custodian of the data of all registered voters, already knows the locations of the voters and polling units that have passed the threshold for expansion,” the statement said.
