Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has distributed sensitive election materials to all the 33 local government areas in Oyo State, ahead of Saturday’s governorship and house of assembly polls.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the materials were distributed in the presence of election stakeholders, including security agents and party representatives.
NAN also reports that the distribution of the materials took place at the premises of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ibadan.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr Adeniran Tella, said that all the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) had been properly configured for the elections.
Tella said that the commission had also made provisions for extra 124 BVAS to ensure smooth running of the exercise, with additional 406 BVAS as backup in case of special needs.
“It is our tradition that we normally move our election materials from CBN to LGAs, onward to registration area centres (RACs) down to polling units at the instance of security agencies, media, party agents and other stakeholders.
“We are doing this with full presence of security agencies here today, because they remain critical stakeholders in our electoral process.
“In recognition of their contributions, the Electoral Institute had organised different layers of electoral security training for security agencies to mitigate any security lapses that may come up from electoral violence.
“We are conducting the forthcoming governorship and house of assembly polls on improved electoral process and new technological devices that guarantee free, fair, credible and acceptable elections,” he said.
Also speaking, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone XI, Osogbo, Sikiru Akande, said that the Nigeria Police Force, as the agency responsible for maintaining internal security, would solidly support INEC in delivering credible and fair elections.
Akande warned that the force would not fold its arms and watch anyone wasting resources and efforts put in place by government and all stakeholders to ensure acceptable elections in the country.
In his own remarks, the Public Relations Officer of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state, Mr Biodun Popoola, expressed satisfaction with the level of preparation by INEC for the Saturday election.
Popoola noted that all the election materials were jointly inspected by all the necessary stakeholders before they were distributed to the various council areas in the state. (NAN)
