The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said it created additional 1,235 polling units in Imo state in order to improve the electoral process.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of the state, Prof. Francis Ezeonu, said this at a press conference in Owerri.
He explained that when the new number is added to the existing 3, 524 polling units, the state now has a total of 4, 758 polling units.
According to him, the polling units were created with a threshold of 500 to 750 registered voters in each polling unit.
Ezeonu further explained that under the new arrangement, Owerri municipality had the highest number of polling units with 122. It is closely followed by Owerri West with 117 polling units.
Owerri North and Ikeduru Local Government Areas came third and fourth with 91 and 80 polling units respectively; while Aboh Mbaise has 79 new polling units.
He said, “The commission took painstaking efforts to ensure that equity was used in determining the new polling units. The exercise was undertaken in order to expand voter access to polling units in line with the expectations of the law.
“The law allows the commission to convert existing voting point settlements into full polling units and where necessary relocate new or existing ones to places where they are closer to and/or more accessible to voters and unserved areas.”
Meanwhile, the commission has equally mapped out an additional 770 polling units in Gombe State.
The 770 polling units are to be created during the ongoing electoral unit mapping exercise in the state. The units will be created out of the existing 2,218.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of the state, Umar Ibrahim, said the increase would bring the total number of polling units in the state to 2,988.
Ibrahim said, “Field officers have gone round the Local Government Areas and visited every new proposed location and captured the required information using GPRS.
“Each polling unit will accommodate 500 to 700 voters and priority attention was given to new settlements.
“The commission adhered strictly to the provision of the guidelines given to them by the headquarters, to improve service delivery. This will bring the total of polling units in the state to 2,988.”
