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The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Sunday, officially announced that the deadline for parties to submit their polling agents for the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States would not be extended.
Beforehand, the commission had designated October 10 as the original deadline for political parties to input their agent lists for polling units and collation centers on its official website.
This statement, delivered on Sunday in Abuja, came from Sam Olumekun, the Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, and the INEC National Commissioner.
With only 48 hours remaining until the deadline, it was disclosed that a mere 55 percent of the agent lists had been uploaded to the INEC portal.
Olumekun said: ‘For Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi, only 55 percent of the expected total of 189,180 polling unit agents have been uploaded to the designated INEC Portal.’
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‘Specifically, 29,278 out of the expected 40,372 (72.5 percent for Bayelsa; 51,681 out of 85,644 (60.3 percent) for Imo, and 23,720 out of 63,144 (37.6 percent) for Kogi State have been uploaded.’
‘Similarly, only 25.1 percent of the expected 15,804 Collation Agents in the three States have been uploaded: 1,246 (26.0 percent) out of 4,806 for Bayelsa; 1,638 (27.3 percent) out of 5,994 for Imo, and 1,095 (21.9 percent) out of 5,004 for Kogi.’
‘The commission hereby wishes to further remind political parties that the portal will automatically shut down at 12:00 midnight on Tuesday, October 10.’
‘There shall be no extension. Consequently, all parties sponsoring candidates for the elections that are yet to upload the list of their agents should do so before the deadline for the exercise.’