INEC: No plan to compromise 2019 elections with 30,000 new polling units

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has no plan to create 30,000 new polling units “to compromise the 2019 general election”.

An alarm was raised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that INEC intends to create additional polling units to aid the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) win the 2019 general elections.

Rotimi Lawrence, chief press secretary of the INEC chairman, denied the insinuation in a statement on Sunday.

He said the commission only directed its resident electoral commissioners (RECs) to thoroughly assess and provide it with information regarding numerous requests for creating new polling units.

“The insinuation that the commission intends to create 30,000 new polling units to compromise the 2019 general elections is false, misleading, unfounded and should be disregarded,” he said.

“We assure the public that our decisions and actions shall always be guided by the provisions of the extant laws and our determination to respond to requests by Nigerians to serve them better.

“Even so, this will be done only after full consultation with all stakeholders.”