1. Professor Attahiru Jega, chairman of INEC, briefed Journalists this evening, at the Commission’s meeting room, on the meeting with RECs. He also used the briefing to share plans and preparations for the Presidential elections on Saturday April 16th, 2011.
2. According to the chairman, the commission has agreed and is taken measures to address late arrival of INEC personnel and materials reported during the National Assembly elections. the commission is taking appropriate steps to reduce delays during accreditation, voting and counting; and minimize voting running late into the nights.
3. On missing names: the chairman indicated that RECs and heads of IT unit in the states have been tasked to address the gaps. They have been encouraged to undertake troubleshooting techniques to check the adequacy of the registers ahead of the Saturday elections and correct all gaps
4. On crowd control, decisions have been taken to achieve efficiency and effectiveness throughout the process. The commission will enforce the directive to establish baby polling units (sub-units) issued to RECs and presiding officers in places with large voters. Baby units are to have a maximum of 300 voters to fast track accreditation and voting.
5. Lighting at night: the chairman acknowledged reports of voting into late nights in many places. This is a result of combination of late arrival of materials, personnel, poor crowd control and should be addressed if the directive on establishment of baby polling units are enforced, and materials and personnel arrive on time and the procedure commences on time.
6. On announcement of results, the Chairman observed that results of votes were not announced or pasted at the walls in many polling centres. He explained that INEC has mandated all presiding officers to announce and paste results at all polling units and collation centres and encouraged Nigerians to demand for compliance with these rules.
7. He assured that the lessons learnt from the april 9 national assembly elections will be used to improve the presidential elections and subsequent ones and call on all Nigerians to continue to support the process by conducting themselves peacefully and orderly throughout the process.
8. He encouraged the Youth corpers to be of good courage and conduct themselves well and appealed to all voters to cooperate with them throughout the exercise.
9. Underage voting is illegal and security officers have been directed to arrest all under-age voters and multiple registrants. He regretted that some under age people were able to register during the voter registration exercise while others registered multiple times. The commission is determined to arrest all underage voters and multiple registrants wherever they are found. He confirmed that the police made some arrest during the April 9 national assembly elections and they are being prosecuted. A list of arrested offenders is being compiled and will be published.
10. The chairman appealed to political parties to comply fully with the rule for submission of party agents. Details of party agents must be submitted for accreditation 7 days before the elections.
11. On the confusion over the elections in Anambra central senatorial district, the chairan explained that the commission has commenced investigation and invited all INEC officials involved to appear before a panel. He explained that the commission is also looking into some of the reported cases of malpractices in Bayels state. The commission has received complaints from aggrieved candidates and will consider them. He however explained that the commission will advise all complainants whose matters can only be addressed in law courts to go to court.
12. On the bomb blast in suleja on the eve of the national assembly elections, the chairman explained that there were about 13 casualties. There was no serving youth corpers among them; mostly ad-hoc staff including 2 ex-corpers and students. The case is under investigation.
13. The chairman appealed to all Nigerians to be vigilant throughout the process and report any suspicious movement or items to security agents on duty.