The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has reiterated the commission’s readiness to conduct a free and fair Nov. 16 governorship election in Ondo State.
Yakubu made this known during his readiness assessment visit to INEC Local Government Area (LGA) offices on Tuesday in the state.
The INEC chairman, who physically visited some of the commission’s local government area offices, said that all the non-sensitive materials were already at the LG offices.
“In terms of the level of preparation so far, I am really impressed by what the state and local government offices have achieved.
“What remains is the sensitive materials, which will arrive on Tuesday next week.
“On Wednesday, there will be inspection of sensitive materials by all parties, candidates, observers, the media, security agencies, and officials of the commission.
“Then on Thursday, we will commence the movement of the materials to LGAs.
“And then, there will be the same inspection at the LGA levels before we move the materials to the wards on Friday,” he said.
Yakubu, who said that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine had been charged and configured, explained that it would be deployed along with the sensitive materials to the local government areas.
The INEC chairman, therefore, promised to continue improving on the commission’s activities and said that life jackets would be deployed to all its officials going to riverine areas of the state.
“For those going to riverine areas, we have also devised the means of ramping the materials in case anything happens; the materials will float on the river and we pick them up.
“We place premium on the security of our own officials, either ad hoc or regular, as well as the security personnel who will accompany the election materials.
“Not only the riverine in Ondo State, but all the riverine areas nationwide, all officials will be provided life jackets. This is part of our preparation,” he said. (NAN)
