Let me join the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Lagos State to welcome you all to this occasion. Retreats have become a well-established tradition of the Commission.
2. They are held to review performance in previous elections in order to make subsequent elections better, reappraise the implementation of an existing policy or the induction of the new National and Resident Electoral Commissioner (RECs).
3. Today's retreat is significant for many reasons. First, it is coming on the eve of the 2023 General Election which is just 86 days away. Secondly, among the 19 RECs sworn-in four weeks ago on 3rd November 2022, 14 are new appointees, holding office for the first time.
4. It is therefore imperative for them to familiarise themselves with the Commission and its processes and procedures as a matter of utmost urgency.
5. Thirdly, as you familiarise yourselves with the processes and procedures, you will also be implementing activities simultaneously. Already, some sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been delivered to your States ahead of the General Election.
6. This retreat therefore is deliberately structured to introduce you to the electoral legal framework as well as the processes and procedures for election administration
7. that is increasingly driven by technology from voter registration, voter accreditation and uploading of polling unit level results on Election Day. Similarly, accreditation of observers, the media and polling agents are all done online through dedicated portals.
8. The retreat will also dwell on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for collection of Permanent Voters' Cards (PVCs), guidelines for voter distribution to Polling Units, the framework for electoral logistics and Code of Conduct for Commission members, officials and staff.
9. Let me therefore reiterate what I recently told you at your swearing-in as Resident Electoral Commissioners. Our success ultimately depends on our integrity. We should remain independent and impartial. As I said on many occasions, the Commission is not a political party.
10. It has no candidates in the forthcoming election. All political parties have equal standing before the Commission. The choice belongs to Nigerian citizens i.e. the electorate. Our responsibility is to uphold the sanctity of the ballot - nothing more nothing less.
11. On this note, let me seize this opportunity to comment on two issues. First, is the misleading statement shared online that voters can vote on Election Day without the voterβs card. This is absolutely incorrect.
12. For any person to vote in any election organised by the Commission, he/she must be a registered voter issued with a PVC. The Commission has consistently maintained the policy of "no PVC, no voting".
13. Nothing has changed. It is a legal requirement and doing otherwise will be a violation of the law. I appeal to Nigerians to ignore any suggestion to the contrary.
14. For the avoidance of doubt, Section 47(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that "a person intending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voterβs card to a Presiding Officer for accreditation at the PU in the constituency in which his name is registered".
15. Therefore, the position of the law is clear. The PVC remains a mandatory requirement for voting during elections.
16. Secondly, I wish to once again touch on the troubling issue of attacks on our facilities and the destruction of critical electoral assets in the country. In the last four months, five Local Government Area offices of the Commission were attacked by yet unknown persons.
17. Buildings have been destroyed and materials lost in Udenu and Igboeze North Local Areas of Enugu State, Abeokuta South Local Government of Ogun State, Ede South Local Government Area of Osun State and, most recently, in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
18. In these mindless attacks, a total of 1,993 ballot boxes, 399 voting cubicles, 22 electric power generators and thousands of uncollected PVCs were, among other materials, destroyed. These attacks must stop and the perpetrators apprehended and prosecuted.
19. I want to reassure Nigerians that we will recover from these attacks. The lost materials will be replaced but there is a limit to our ability to keep replacing wantonly destroyed materials with just 86 days to the General Election.
20. Security agencies, traditional and community leaders and all well-meaning Nigerians should continue to support the Commission to stop the attacks
21. but the ultimate solution is arrest and prosecution so that vandals and arsonists do not feel that bad behaviour is an acceptable conduct in our country.
22. Before I conclude, I would like to thank the @UNDPNigeria for supporting this retreat. Its long-standing partnership with the Commission has gone a long way in sustaining the incremental progress we are all witnessing in our electoral process.
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