Voters Were Not Migrated! — INEC Clarifies Why FCT Polling Units Were Adjusted

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed reports claiming that voters in the Federal Capital Territory were moved to new polling units during the recent Area Council elections.

The commission clarified that no voter was transferred away from their original polling unit. Instead, adjustments were made to reduce overcrowding and improve the voting process.

In a statement issued on Sunday, INEC’s Acting Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Wilfred Ifogah, explained that the commission only split heavily populated polling units into smaller ones.

He said the exercise targeted polling units with more than 1,250 registered voters in order to prevent congestion and delays on election day.

According to him, confusion arose because some voters had difficulty finding their correct locations.

Ifogah stated, “Contrary to the claim in some quarters that some voters were migrated to another/ new polling units different from their original polling units, the commission wishes to state categorically that voters were not migrated, what the commission did was to create split polling units in large polling units with voters registration of over 1,250 voters to avoid congestion on election day. The split units are located some few meters away from the original polling units within the same premises.”

He further explained that the commission had taken steps before the election to inform voters about the changes.

Ifogah noted, “The public will recall that the commission displayed the register of voters at designated centres/split polling units four days to the Area Council elections to enable voters confirm their details and polling unit locations.”

He added that affected voters also received notifications ahead of time.

According to him, text messages and emails were sent on February 18, 19, 20 and 21 to guide voters to their correct split polling units. He stressed that the messages were only meant to serve as reminders and not to change voters’ original registration status.

INEC also provided an update on election day operations.

Ifogah said data from the commission’s Election Operations Dashboard showed that about 45 per cent of polling units opened by 8:30am, while all polling units were fully operational by 10am.

The commission assured residents of the FCT that the adjustment was purely administrative and aimed at making voting easier and more orderly.

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