By Habibat Aliu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday said that 242 polling units with 142,261 registered voters in 10 Local Government Areas of Katsina State were under serious security threat and that voting may not take place there.

 The Commission’s Head of the Department of Electoral Operation in the state, Husseini Jaafar, who revealed this at a stakeholder meeting in Katsina, said the polling units may be affected in the forthcoming general elections.

  According to him, “We have 242 polling units in 10 security-prone local government areas of Katsina State with 142,261 registered voters. Before, 13 local government areas were under security threat.

  “But in an attempt to ensure that all elections are held in all polling units of the state, every month we sit with all the electoral officers of the LGAs after they have a consultation with security officers and critical stakeholders in their respective local governments and discuss the prevailing situation.

  “As we keep on reviewing the situation based on the reports we received from the electoral officers, presently we have only 10 local governments that we now confirm have security challenges that we can not hold elections there.

  “But all the same, nobody can say what will happen in these 10 local governments tomorrow, and even though we have this problem the commission is still working within the electoral law to come up with another plan that will enable all eligible voters to vote”.

  He said the electoral umpire has directed all the electoral officers of the affected local governments to liaise with security agencies, and traditional and religious leaders to propose a safer place that would enable the commission to relocate the affected voters to cast their vote.

  He added that the INEC has inaugurated a committee with a template under his leadership that would continue reviewing the security situation of the affected 242 polling units in the 10 local governments to ensure that all eligible voters in the state exercise their franchise in the forthcoming 2023 polls.