The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has unveiled its intention to organize fresh re-run elections in 18 polling units within Plateau State.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the State, Dr Oliver Agundu, conveyed this development while addressing journalists in Jos on Saturday.
Agundu explained that the decision to conduct a fresh election stemmed from reported complaints about ballot paper shortages in certain polling units during the Saturday re-run.
The REC shared, “In respect of the reports that were coming in from some poling units that there were shortages of ballot papers in respect of the Federal House of Representatives seat, we did a holistic appraisal of the situation and we have received a comprehensive report on all the poling units, and they summed up to 18 of them in total.”
Addressing the need for resolution, Agundu stated that the commission had summoned a meeting of party stakeholders at the INEC headquarters to brief them on the situation.
“We have decided to meet with leaders of politics and the media by 8 pm today (Saturday) at the state INEC headquarters in Jos because an election is a stake-holding exercise. So, we will brief other stakeholders and then inform them of our next plan of action, but we are thinking that we will not take for granted that this is an insignificant number.
“We will see the possibility of also giving them the opportunity to also cast their votes tomorrow (Sunday), but we will make a final position on that when we meet by 8 pm. That is the situation, and we want the public to know that we take their concerns seriously. We are also doing a very thorough investigation on what has happened on these polling units,” added the REC.
According to reports on Saturday, some INEC officials faced being held hostage by frustrated voters who wanted to cast their ballots but couldn't due to a shortage of ballot papers.
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