By Amos Okioma, Yenagoa
As part of the timetable for the Bayelsa State off-circle governorship election slated for November 11, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has presented a comprehensive voters’ register to all the political parties that will feature candidates at the poll, recording a total of 1,056,862 voters, comprising of 566,095 males and 490,862, while urging candidates to embark on campaigns for votes.
The resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Bayelsa State, Mr Obo Effanga, who was flanked by the administrative secretary, Mr Emmanuel Ogbodu, Mrs May Agbamuche – Mbu and other management staff at the event in Yenagoa said the commission was poised to conduct free, fair and credible election, as all necessary deployment of men and material had been completed, adding that since the ambition of the contestants is to win, what they need do is to campaign for votes.
He said “If you want to lose, don’t contest an election. Out of the 15, one person will win; with proper conduct one person from all, who is a Bayelsan must emerge.”
He added that just as INEC was prepared to do the right thing for a peaceful and credible election, the political parties should be prepared to do the same thing.
INEC national commissioner, Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu reiterated that the presentation of the publication of the Voters’ Registration is in line with the time table and schedule of activities slated for the 2023 governorship in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi, and detailed 13 key activities for the implementation out of which the commission has successfully implemented 9 activities.
She said the publication of the voters’ registers which is taking place today is very important, stressing that similarly copies of Register of Voters in PDF will be presented to all political parties participating in the election.
“Recall that the commission published the National Register of Voters on the 11th of January, 2023 which was used for the conduct of the general election of 2023. The same Register of voters will be used for the 2023 Governorship election in Bayelsa State. The total numbers of voters registered in Bayelsa State for the governorship is 1,056,862 comprising of 566,095 males and 490,767 females.”
Agbamuche -Mbu also disclosed that the commission has lifted the suspension of Permanent Voters cards (PVCs) collection in the three states of Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi on the 10th of September, as all uncollected PVCs were made available for collection between 11th and 10th of October, 2023.
She said, “The commission will publish the final figure of the PVCs collected before the date of the election. The commission will deploy Bimordal Voters Accreditation System (BVAs) in all the 2244 polling units of Bayelsa State”
She further disclosed that the commission had trained technical support staff that will be deployed to all Registration Areas (RAs) and local government areas to provide technical support for the BVAs.
“Be assured that the commission is committed to maintaining a high level of professionalism, accuracy, impartiality and diligence in the discharge of its duties thereby protecting the integrity of the election process,” she said.
