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The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) has acknowledged posting
non-existent polling units ahead of elections this year, but said weeks
of verification of the widely-questioned 120,000 units it claimed
earlier, produced only a “minimal discrepancy”.

The commission’s
Chairman, Attahiru Jega, said yesterday that the screening unearthed 28
fake polling units-a far cry from the 28,000 analysed for NEXT in a
October, 2010 report, by WangoNet, an advocacy group.

Tracking the huge
number of Polling Units on the commission’s website, WangoNet said its
examinations showed that the electoral body had extra 28,000 Units than
it claimed, with the disparity forming a significant portion of INEC’s
N87 billion budget last year.

Details of the
analysis showed many polling stations were enumerated multiple times,
officials having possibly upped the figures in manner that appeared to
be outright falsification.

Nearly 8,000 units
were counted twice, thrice, or substantially more, before INEC arrived
at the round figure of 120,000, the report pointed out.

Some of the worst
cases noticed were two schools in Edo State- Ivbiyeneva Primary School
in St. Saviour ward and Ologbosere Primary School in Ugbekun ward, both
counted 40 times.

The listings
predate Mr Jega’s tenure. While reacting to the errors before the
report was published by NEXT, his Media Aide, Kayodu Idowu, denied any
fraudulent intent, saying the commission was pressed for time and as
such, based its projections on unverified available records.

He said the site
was being upgraded and promised that the accurate number of polling
booths will be ascertained during the deployment of the Direct Data
Capture machines.

Addressing the 36
Resident Electoral Commissioners yesterday in Abuja two days away from
a crucial Delta State governorship rerun, Mr Jega admitted the fake
posts existed but noted that the verification exercise turned up only
28 phony voting posts across the country.

“I thank you all
for the time and dedication you invested in that process,” he told his
commissioners. “It shows clearly in the outstanding outcome of the
process. Currently, the discrepancy is minimal; in fact 28 to be
precise.” He said the new figures will be promptly updated in the DDC
machines and on the mapping of the polling units on the Google maps.

Delta’s re-run as litmus test

The meeting on
Tuesday is the last for the commission’s highest echelon as officials
rally final preparations for the Delta State rerun on Thursday-seen as
a litmus test for the Mr Jega led INEC, and national voters’
registration on a week away. Mr Jega listed fresh steps adopted by the
electoral body as it races to preserve a national goodwill for his
administration, and to disperse lingering doubts whether the commission
can be different from its well discredited past.

“Nigerians see the
Delta rerun as a barometer for gauging how things have either changed
or remained unchanged in INEC’s conduct of elections,” he told the
commissioners.

Part of the plans,
he said, prominent Nigerians may be appointed as returning officers to
help “shield officials of the commission from unwarranted accusation of
bias.”

New security features too have been introduced on the ballot papers
while the existing voters’ register have been “cleaned up”, he added.
Further, the number of corp members to be drafted as Assistant
Registration Officers have been pruned from 360,000 to 240,000.