A civil society group, Centre for Public Accountability, has described the claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is creating an additional 30,000 polling units in a bid to rig the 2019 elections as not only unfortunate but mischievous.

The group in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Abdul Kazeem, described PDP’s claims as irresponsible, with a tendency of unnecessarily heating up the polity.

Kazeem urged them to take seriously its responsibility of mobilising its members to go out and get their PVCs rather than trying to cast aspersions on the credibility of the electoral umpire.

He stated that though the INEC is yet to create any additional polling units as claimed by PDP it is within the powers of the EMB to do so while stressing that additional Polling Units neither increases the number of voters in a polling unit nor the number of votes.

Besides, Kazeem explained that since 2011 during the Voter Registration in January 2011, and given the long queues noticed at registration centres, INEC had to provide special interventions of registration equipment in most cities across the country in order for people to register.

According to him, additional PUs will address congestion, security, staffing, and related concerns during elections

According to him, the current Polling Units were created in 1996 when the population of Nigeria was about 111m (estimate), adding that today, it is estimated that the population has risen to over 180m.

He said: “This tactics of trying to cry wolf and raise unnecessary alarm in an attempt to box INEC into a corner is mischievous. Politicians and political parties should not heat up the polity.

“We know the antecedents of the PDP. Perhaps the ghost of its past misdeed against Nigerians is coming back to haunt it. But we have to remind the party that this INEC is different from the one a top PDP member recently confessed to have used to rig elections in the past.”

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