Section 58
Conduct at polling units(1) The presiding officer shall regulate the admission of voters to the polling unit and shall exclude all persons other than the candidates, polling agents, poll clerks and persons lawfully entitled to be admitted including accredited observers, and the Presiding officer shall keep order and comply with the requirements of this Act at the polling unit.
(2) The presiding officer may order a person to be removed from a polling unit, who behaves in a disorderly manner or fails to obey a lawful order.
(3) A person removed from a polling unit under this section shall not, without the permission of the presiding officer, again enter the polling unit during the day of the election, and if charged with the commission of an offence in that polling unit, the person shall be deemed to be a person taken into custody by a police officer for an offence in respect of which he may be arrested without a warrant.
(4) The provisions of subsection (3) shall not be enforced so as to prevent a voter who is otherwise entitled to vote at a polling unit from having an opportunity of voting.
(5) In the absence of the presiding officer, the poll clerk shall enjoy and exercise all the powers of the presiding officer in respect of a polling unit.
The section prescribes orderly behavior at the polls and how election officials may remove persons who are disorderly. It also empowers the Presiding Officer to ensure that only authorized persons are allowed into the Polling Unit.
In the absence of the Presiding Officer, only the Polling Clerk can act in the absence of the Presiding Officer.
OGU V. EKWEREMADU (2006) 1 NWLR (PT. 961) 255Thuggery and violent disruption of election are criminal acts that may affect the election of a candidate, and a nexus between the perpetrators and the candidate must be established by credible evidence. It must be shown that the act adversely affected the result of the election. It must be shown that the person causing the acts of thuggery was an agent of the candidate.
Paragraphs 15 & 16 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022 outlines persons allowed into the Polling Unit as well as the signing of a Polling Unit attendance Register.
