The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has described using mobile phones at the polling booths during Saturday’s election as a crime.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ogun State, Niyi Ijalaye made this known on Wednesday while addressing journalists after a meeting with the heads of security agencies ahead of Saturday’s election.
Ijalaye said voters would not be allowed to make calls or take pictures with their phones when they are casting their votes. He added that on no account will violence be tolerated.
He encouraged people to “come out peacefully on Saturday and exercise their franchise” and vote for the candidates and parties of their choice.
He said people will not be allowed to take pictures at polling points.
He said, “Maybe I need to emphasize this also that on voting day, when people come to the polling booths with their phones, when they approach the polling officer and they want to go in with their phones, they will not be allowed to use their phones to discuss with people or take pictures at that polling point where they will be voting. It is an offence; it is a crime and it will not be allowed.”
He appealed to people who “wish to come there with their phones to maybe switch it off for one or two minutes so that everybody would be seen to be acting within the law”.
