The International Conference Center (ICC) Abuja has been designated as the National Situation Room and Collation Center by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which has established two committees for the purpose of collating the presidential results.
The chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who also serves as the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the federation, and the returning officer for the presidential election, is in charge of the collation secretariat. In order to fulfill his constitutional obligation to supervise the collation of presidential results from the states and declare them, he will have some technical employees on hand.
The second committee, which will be in charge of setting up the Situation Room, will be led by May Agbamuche-Mbu, the National Commissioner and Secretary of the Commission. This committee will handle matters such as venue preparation, sitting arrangements, utilities and services, security, the accreditation of party agents as well as national and international observers, media, etc.
The commission also declared that 8,809 Registration Areas and Wards across the nation will now be responsible for collecting PVCs. Recall that registered voters previously obtained their PVCs from respective LGAs. The transfer of PVC collection to the wards will begin January 6, 2023, according to a statement signed by Barrister Festus Okoye.
He stated that all legally registered voters who have not yet picked up their PVCs are urged to do so now that power has been transferred to the wards. This same information is true for individuals who registered previously to the 2019 general election but haven’t yet picked up their cards: they can all pick up their PVCs at the Registration Area/wards during this time if they applied for replacement of lost, damaged, or defaced PVCs.
‘The PVCs of those that applied for transfer are available for collection in the Local Governments and Registration Areas where they intend to vote and not in the State or Local Government where they carried out the transfer”.
The Situation Room and Collation Center Committee, which was established by Commission Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has been given the mandate to get to work. The committee members include:
Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, National Commissioner – Chairperson, Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, National Commissioner – Member, Barr. Festus Okoye, National Commissioner – Member, Director, Electoral Operations – Member, Director, ICT – Member, Director, Planning and Monitoring – Member, Director, Security – Member, Director, Election & Party Monitoring – Member, Director, International Cooperation & Protocol – Member
Director, Research – Member
Director, Health Services – Member
Director, Estate, Works and Transport – Member, Chief Technical Adviser to the Chairman – Member
Special Adviser to the Chairman – Member
Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman – Member
Director, Commission Secretariat – Member/Secretary.
