By G9ija

Chief Charles Udeogaranya, a former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, has demanded answers from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the removal of 240 polling units, which were dropped just one year after the creation of 56,872 fresh polling units.

In a statement released on Thursday in Abuja, Udeogaranya called on the electoral commission to be more transparent and open with information that should be in the public domain for the sake of credibility.

He challenged INEC to provide a detailed explanation for the removal of the polling units and to assure the public that the commission’s actions are not politically motivated.

Udeogaranya suspicion is as a result of a report made by INEC that it had identified 240 out of the 176,846 polling units nationwide where elections would not take place on February 25 and March 11.

During a meeting with the chairmen of 18 political parties, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, explained that the reason for the removal of the 240 unit was that it has no registered voters.

As part of its efforts to expand voter access, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) established 56,872 new polling units in June 2022. This was the first time that the commission had created new polling units in the country since 1996, when the existing 119,974 units were established.

Political analysts were quick to note the significance of this move, which is expected to have a major impact on the upcoming elections.

Udeogaranya believed that the commission may not be disclosing all the information it has regarding this decision to drop the affected polling units.

He said, “Nigerians would like to know how all those polling units were populated. We would like to know who they are and assess the copies of their registers and the permanent voter cards collection records for fuller public interrogations.”

According to the All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, the pronouncement of the affected 240 units was a diversionary tactic to create an impression of due diligence and thoroughness