2019: INEC denies PDP's allegation of creating 3,000 illegal polling units outside Nigeria

- The Independent National Electoral Commission has called on Nigerians to disregard the allegations levelled against it by the Peoples Democratic Party

- The PDP alleged that the commission was planning to rig the 2019 general elections for President Muhammadu Buhari by creating 3,000 illegal polling centres 

- The opposition party alleged that INEC created the polling centres in Chad and Niger Republic 

- The commission had denied the allegation, describing it as false and urged Nigerians to treat it as such The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied the allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the commission had created 3,000 illegal voting centres for the purpose of rigging the forthcoming elections for President Muhammadu Buhari. 

Punch reports that the opposition party had alleged that the presidency and INEC were perfecting plans to rig the 2019 general elections by creating illegal polling centres in Chad and Niger Republic. 

Legit.ng notes that the national publicity secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement: 

“Buhari, INEC and all Nigerians know that there are no provisions for Diaspora voting under our system. By the extant laws guiding elections in Nigeria, it is very clear who is eligible to vote, as well as the centres statutorily designated for elections. There is no provision for any special arrangement whatsoever.

“It is therefore reprehensible that President Buhari, in his desperation to rig the elections, is now trying to hide under the guise of making special provision for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) outside the country, to illegally create rigging centres outside our country and import contrived figures into the election results. 

Describing the allegation as false, the chief press secretary to the commission, Rotimi Oyekanmi, called on Nigerians to disregard the allegation. Oyekanmi said INEC was not planning to create illegal polling centres. I

n a statement in Abuja by the chairman of INEC information and voter education committee, Festus Okoye, internally displaced persons living outside the states they registered would only vote in the presidential election, while IDPs living in the state they registered would vote in all elections in 2019. 

The statement read: “The commission wishes to state unequivocally that there will be no Diaspora or out-of-country voting for any Nigerian, in accordance with extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution. Only duly registered IDPs within Nigeria will be allowed to vote.

“It should, however, be noted that while IDPs currently residing in states where they registered can vote in all elections, those displaced from their states and are currently living in states other than where they registered can only vote in the presidential election.”