 Welcome back. Time for our next conversation. Glad to say that we have a guest on standby. But let's quickly inform you that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmoud Yacoubou, has said that the forthcoming general elections will not hold in certain polling units, in fact as much as 240 polling units across the country. That might sound like a lot, but let's listen to him now. He made the disclosure on Monday at a meeting with the leadership of the 18 political parties in the country. The adage chairman went on to say that they identified polling units without registered voters spread across 28 states and the FCT. That's what he commissioned. Those polling units that had no voters across 28 states and the FCT. So he also had to assure the gathering of political party leaders that no election will hold in these identified polling units. And now with this development, he also went on to disclose that the number of polling units have reduced from 176,846 to 176,606. So these are 240 polling units without registered voters spread across 28 states and the FCT. Now the range from one polling unit to 12 polling units in each of the states mentioned and the FCT in some states have one unit, some states have 12, which will not be included in the forthcoming election. Except Taraba and Emo states, which have 34 of such polling units and 38 of such polling units respectively, no new registrants chose the polling units. And we're told that no voters indicated interest to transfer to them during the last continuous voter registration, mainly for security reasons. This means that no election will hold in these polling units. We're glad to say we have joining us to discuss this. As it affects the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria, Le Bari Sampson-Undu, who is the Director of Security at INEC, he joins us from Abuja. Le Bari Sampson-Undu, thank you very much for your time. What does this mean? We're trying to understand what is going on. Does this mean that INEC is delisting these polling units that they will no longer be recognized as polling units from during the 2023 elections and after? Or INEC is simply saying we would not be sending polling agents and the like to these units during this election? Thank you. Simply put, INEC will not send men and materials to the polling units because there are no registered voters. Voters refuse to migrate there. Voters refuse to be assigned there. Voters simply want to do what they have been doing and stay where they think they know better. And so it will be a waste of time for INEC to send men and materials to that place. It will be a waste of resources. So because people are not there to vote, INEC will not send people there. For now, if after these elections people are ready to migrate there or to move there, we'll send people to be there. They are not delisting the polling units. They are still part of the access to voting that INEC created 25 years after the last exercise was done. So we cannot undo what we have done. We'll keep it until people are ready to go there to vote. But one of the reasons why people are not going there is because of incessant insecurity. Nobody wants to lose his life or our life because he wants to go and vote. And so that's the reason we are given. We can't force people to go there. But if after speaking now and we have people who are going there, because INEC is also persuading people holding stakeholders' conferences and meetings to see if people will be willing and ready to go there to vote. Once that is done, we'll get people informed and they will go there to vote. Except that with 11 days to the election, it will be very difficult to get people to vote in the presidential election. Perhaps if people make up their mind to go there for the governorate and other assembly elections. In the 28th states where the governorate elections take place and FCT. In the 28th states, we will do that. But for now the status quo remains. So just to be clear, these polling units are not being delisted. Is that what you're saying sir? No, no, no, no. We can't delist what we took time to create. to give people access to polling units to vote? Well, I mean the conversation amongst Nigerians, some Nigerians to be precise, is that the umpire has been compromised and people are making reference to the fact that in 2015 people voted in this polling unit and, you know, but what exactly are we dealing with? Is it that the new polling units were not properly advertised? The UDB security concerns, what exactly is responsible for no registered voters across these 240 polling units? Let's get it clear. There are two things involved. Most of these polling units were voting points in 2015 and 2019 and Anak decided to make it a polling unit on its own and so Nigerians with our attitude of what I know is where we stay. That's the cause of it. It's not as if any other thing has happened. They were voting points converted to polling units after a robust discussion and engagement with the people involved. Anak took time, held meetings, discussed with the people and they agreed that these units should be created after a close-down of units were overfilled with people. So they were not created and sent to San Vizier Forest. They were created and sent to the next nearest community to where they used to vote. So that's what is happening. So what exactly do you think would this mean for the elections, come the 25th and, you know, the 11th of March 2023? The important thing is that Anak is not disenfranchising anybody. Anak is not and will not disenfranchise Nigerians who come out to vote. Like the chairman said, the only reason why a man cannot vote, the process has been met easy. The only reason why you cannot vote is if you forgot your face at home because we now have two criterias, either the biometrics or the facial. So if you forgot your face at home, then you cannot vote. If the biometrics doesn't work, then your face will be there and once you are accredited, identified as having the Anak permanent voters card, of course you'll be given a ballot paper to go and vote. So Anak will not disenfranchise, has no intention of disenfranchising people because it is not our character to do that. But, you know, in a case where you, I mean, you are suspected that wherever it is that you registered is where you should cast your vote. So some people... That position hasn't changed. That position hasn't changed. It's not the official position where you registered. It's where you vote. What we are trying to do is to make it less cumbersome and easy for people to vote. If you have 3,000, it means it is going to take a longer time. But if they are allowed, if they are decided to migrate to these 240 polling units, those numbers will have been reduced and will make work easier for the personnel that will be sent there and it will make voting seamlessly easy for the voters. Don't forget, we have to take the comfort of the voters into consideration. Our duty is to ensure that the process is smooth and transparent. That's all we have there. We have that process. All right. What is up with this move, because there's some other thing about this, apart from, you know, these dormant, you want to call it dormant or idle polling units, that we need to take a notice of. The INC chairman had also said that some voters will be moved to other polling units, you know, is what he's saying. What is going on with this, you know, moving of voters to other polling units? I mean, can you explain that to us, you know? Yes, it's as simple as that. Let's say polling unit A has 3,500. The commission has embarked on the process of ensuring that not more than 1,000 or 1,500 is in each polling unit. So this other number, say from A to E, will vote at polling unit A. And then the rest will not be shifted to polling unit B. And polling unit C contributes to one another. It has not been taken to somewhere else. It is contributes to one another. But let's face the fact, you know, in this country, everything you do with good intention, meanings are read into each. One community, we said they are taking our polling units away. They are taking it to another people. That's not what we are doing. The community only polling, in fact, the polling unit is the commission's polling unit. But it is a means of making voting easier and accessible to the population. Our population increases. What we used to have in 1983, in 1999, is not the same figure we have today. And so as the population increases, the commission has deemed it necessary to make sure that the process is transparent enough that people will be removed from one point to another, not far, but contributes to the whole voting area so that people can vote and have access to the polling unit. I know that the commission has said that, you know, the consent of the voters will be sought if the polling unit is a bit far from where the first one was. But I do hope that no voter will not be able to vote because of distance. Mr. Libari, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Well, that's the size of our conversation. We have to, you know, move on and we'll definitely, you know, have this conversation. But how much more time do we have as we inch closer? Because we're very close to the elections. 25th of February is almost here. And 11th of March is almost here. Our fingers crossed. Let's see how all of this pans out for us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And do subscribe to our YouTube channel at Plus TV Africa. Plus TV Africa Lifestyle. My name is Messie Boko. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day. She's already wearing red. Oh, that's a coincidence. You guys enjoy Valentine's. I'll just go home to my wife and we'll just do something at home privately. My name is Kofi Bartels. And please just get some flowers for mercy. Okay.