By Victor Ayoo
Benue State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Nentawa Yilwatda has announced the requirement for the creation of new polling units across all council wards in Benue State.
He further explained that INEC has a bench mark and the exercise is not going to be by influence, but stakeholders should mobilize their people to achieve the needed result.
Dr Yilwatda made the announcement, while addressing a Stateholders Meeting on Expansion of Voters Access to Polling Units and Continuous Registration held at the INEC headquarters in Makurdi.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner stated that polling units were last created 25 years ago and since the population had increased, with new settlements all over the state, INEC had found it necessary to ease the suffering of prospective voters.
According to him, there had been previous attempts by the Commission to carry out the exercise but politicians had thwarted the efforts.
The REC stated that any polling unit that had up to 750 voters would be split and made two substantive units, frowning at why polling units should be found in peoples houses. He further stated that the exercise would commence on 28 April, 2021.
On where there is crisis, he said INEC field workers who have the area maps were at liberty to create such polling units. He added that the essence of the exercise was to improve access of voters to to registration.