The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has reiterated the commission’s readiness to conduct a free and fair November 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 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, all parties, candidates, observers, the media, security agencies, and commission officials will inspect sensitive materials.
“Then, we will begin moving the materials to LGAs on Thursday.
“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 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 will pick them up.
“We place a premium on the security of our officials, either ad-hoc or regular, and 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)
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