The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday in Abuja said all polling booths sited in shrines and forests in Rivers and Anambra states would be relocated.
The electoral body questioned the rationale behind the location of polling booths in shrines and forests in the states at a meeting its Chairman, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega had with state Independent Electoral Commissioners in Abuja on Monday.
He challenged SIECs in both Anambra and Rivers states to identify possible areas where such perceived aberrations existed to enable INEC to relocate the polling booths.
Jega, who was responding to the revelations by the Commissioner in Charge of the Anambra SIEC, Mr. Sylvester Okonkwo, and the representative of the Rivers State Commissioner, Mrs. Ibiso Dakoru, that some polling booths were located in shrines, said that such practices should be discouraged.
Dakoru, during an interactive session, had expressed concern over the use of “shrines” in some areas in Rivers State as polling units.
She sought explanation on what INEC intended to do to encourage registered voters in the affected areas.
Okonkwo also told reporters on the sidelines, that a polling unit existed in a “thick forest” in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State.
In his response, Jega clarified that polling units were designed to be in “public spaces,” adding that in other climes, some churches and mosques serve as polling centres.
“No polling unit should exist in a shrine or forest; polling units in shrines are just there to help some people win elections. Polling units should be in public spaces,” Jega said.
Culled from PunchOnline
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