2023: Ebonyi INEC conducts verification of polling unit expansion

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ebonyi Saturday carried out the verification of the polling unit expansion done by Electoral Officers (EOs) in the state.

The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Joseph Chukwu, told newsmen in Abakiliki that the exercise was in line with a directive from the commission’s headquarters.
“It was part of the strategies to review the expansion carried out across the 13 local government areas (LGAs) by the EOs ahead of 2023,” Chukwu said.

He said that Prof. Okechukwu Ibeano, the INEC national commissioner in charge of Ebonyi, Imo, Abia and Enugu states, supervised the verification.
“The visit of Ibeano is in line with the activities of the commission on the expansion of existing polling units.

“He came from Abuja as national commissioner overseeing Ebonyi to check what we have been doing from all the LGAs in the state.
“The exercise will avail us the opportunity to identify errors in the execise and make corrections,” Chukwu said .

According to him, the commission encountered difficulties in the polling units expansion exercise.
“These include difficult terrains, boundary conflicts among the rural communities and herdsmen crisis, among others.

“We took note of these issues and we hope they will be addressed in our larger stakeholders’ meeting coming up soon,” he further said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ebonyi has 1,785 polling units.
The expansion is expected to raise the number in order to make them easily accessible for the electorate to exercise their franchise in 2023 and beyond.