The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised concerns over the failure of political parties to substantially comply with the submission of lists of their agents ahead of the governorship elections scheduled for November 11 in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by Sam Olumekun, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, despite several notifications and reminders, political parties have not adequately submitted the list of their agents.
The electoral body had informed all political parties of the opening of its online portal for uploading the list of polling unit and collation center agents, which commenced on August 24, 2023. Subsequently, INEC engaged party representatives to discuss the methodology for a smooth process.
However, the statement revealed that as of the latest update, only 55% of the expected total of 189,180 polling unit agents had been uploaded to the designated INEC portal for the three states. Specifically, for Bayelsa State, 29,278 out of an expected 40,372 agents (72.5%) had been uploaded, while Imo State had 51,681 agents out of an expected 85,644 (60.3%), and Kogi State had 23,720 agents out of an expected 63,144 (37.6%) uploaded.
In addition, only 25.1% of the expected 15,804 collation agents for the three states had been uploaded. Bayelsa had 1,246 out of 4,806 agents (26.0%) uploaded, Imo had 1,638 out of 5,994 agents (27.3%), and Kogi had 1,095 out of 5,004 agents (21.9%) uploaded.
Olumekun emphasized that the online portal for agent list submissions would automatically close at 12:00 midnight on October 10, 2023. This statement serves as a reminder to political parties of the approaching deadline for compliance with INEC’s agent list submission requirements.