To ensure ease of movement of electoral materials for this Saturday, November 8, Anambra state governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has hired 3,000 vehicles and 83 Speedboats.
The vehicles were hired from the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the National Association of Transport Owners (NATO), and they have been fully paid for.
Additionally, to ensure inclusivity in the election, the commission has engaged sign language interpreters to be deployed in all 5,718 polling units across the state, ensuring that a total of 3,456 registered voters with disabilities were able to participate in voting.
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan, who disclosed the arrangements yesterday during a meeting of top officials of his commission with stakeholders in the governorship election, also stated that the commission was fully prepared for the conduct of the election in a free, fair and transparent manner that would produce a credible outcome.
He, however, expressed disappointment over the turnout of stakeholders at the meeting, describing the number of those present as low.
He stated that the greatest threat to democracy is indifference, pointing out that he had expected all the seats in the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre, Awka hall of the meeting to be filled. More people would even be standing outside, but, said disappointedly, “many seats are empty”.
Urging for extensive voter participation in the governorship polls, the INEC boss warned, “bad leaders are elected when good citizens don’t vote”.
He stated that ten National Commissioners and ten Resident Electoral Commissioners would be redeployed to the state to ensure the proper conduct of the election in all 5,718 polling units, 326 wards scattered across the 21 local government areas of the state.
