Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has urged Nigerians to query the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, on the creation of additional polling units before the June 21 governorship election in the state.
Fayemi recalled that the electoral umpire raised the polling units in Ekiti from 2,195 to over 2,800 based on the request of the state government to allow the citizens to perform their civic responsibility.
The governor spoke yesterday while collecting his 64-page e-passport alongside his wife, Erelu Bisi, at the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters in Ado Ekiti.
Reacting to outcry over the creation of additional 30,000 polling units across the country, Fayemi justified the criticisms from Nigerians against the policy, considering the electoral fraud that had characterised elections since the advent of democracy in 1999.
He argued that the Jega-led INEC might not have committed any offence if the policy was targeted at making voting points closer and easier for Nigerians, rather than to give any party or region undue advantage.
Fayemi said: “INEC is in the eyes of the storm. INEC must not just be fair, it must be seen to be fair because it has a duty to communicate what it has been doing to ordinary Nigerians in a very clear, concise and a way that cannot be controverted.
“At a first glance, if you hear that about 30,000 units have been created and that over 20,000 will go up North while 8,000 will go down South, you will feel what is going on. Let us try to get a sense of what is going on here.
“INEC have a duty to demonstrate to Nigerians that this is not meant to give advantage to any region or any political party or to any individual.
“But, if it is to give advantage to any region, to any political party or to any individual in the 2015 race, we must query INEC and Nigerians have raised the alarm about that to know precisely what it is all about,” Fayemi said.

Increased polling units: Fayemi urges Nigerians to query Jega’s action