The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has Sunday, commended Nigerians for their large turnout and peaceful conduct during the National Elections held on Saturday.
The Commission gave the commendation in a press briefing hosted by its chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega.
Jega commended Nigerians for the resilience and remarkable understanding they exhibited during the exercise not minding difficulties.
“We hope that good conduct will continue throughout the post-election period as well,” Jega said.
“We are pleased that the elections went on smoothly in a substantial number of Polling Units across the country, including the North East where the Commission was also able to conduct voting for Internally Dispaced Persons (IDPs) in the 3 states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno.”
Jega described it as gratifying to note that the Card Readers worked well in the majority of Polling Units, even though there were areas where difficulties experienced necessitated additional Guidelines by the Commission to allow for manual accreditation of voters.
He noted that Osun, Kebbi, Ekiti, Adamawa, Borno, Jigawa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states reported reverting to manual-only accreditation of voters in some Polling Units and that investigations into what accounted for the difficulties encountered with the Card Readers are ongoing.
“As a result of the operational challenges experienced, elections could not be concluded yesterday in a few polling units and therefore these will be concluded today (Sunday),” Jega said.
He listed locations where elections were concluded on Sunday as: 90 Polling Units in Lagos State, 16 Polling Units in Kebbi State, 25 Polling Units in Adamawa State, 6 PUs in Niger State, 37 PUs in Yobe State, 8 PUs in Borno State, 37 PUs in Jigawa State, 13 PUs in Kano, 116 PUs in Taraba State and 2 PUs in the FCT.
He said according to reports from INEC state offices, the collation of results has commenced and is going on well.
“The first collated results for the Presidential Election are expected at the National Collation Centre here in Abuja by this evening,” he assured.
Jega warned Nigerians strongly against premature publication or announcement of results by unauthorized persons and media channels particularly online sites.
“Only INEC is empowered by law to announce results and it is an offence for anyone to pre-empt the Commission in this regard,” he said.
He said that in the course of the elections, the Commission received reports of isolated security challenges in some states that were successfully repelled.
He commended the security agencies for their vigilance and dedication.
“We also commend our field staff, especially young men and women of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and students, who form the bulk of our ad-hoc personnel, for their bravery and commitment in the face of challenges, to ensure free, fair, and credible elections,” he said.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to thank key stakeholders in the electoral process who devoted much effort, time, energy and resources to ensure peaceful elections.
“The Commission reiterates its commitment to ensure that the elections are free, fair and credible and peaceful. We are happy that so far these objectives are on course. We call on all Nigerians to remain peaceful as they await the collation and return of results.”
