Ondo INEC Distributes Sensitive Materials

Ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ondo State will, today (Thursday), distribute all the sensitive materials to the 18 local government areas.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, disclosed this on Wednesday, at a Stakeholders’ Forum, organised by the commission in Akure.

Agbaje, who said the early distribution would boost the commission’s preparedness for the elections, disclosed that the materials would be dispatched upon receipt from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Akure.

The commission, he added, had also created 750 voting points to decongest the already 3,009 polling units in the state, to facilitate early completion of accreditation and voting on election days. According to him, INEC had made arrangements to ensure that the ad hoc staff get to their respective points of duty early on election days. He added that a Situation Room had been created in all the state headquarters of the commission to address complaints from all stakeholders.

Agbaje also re-affirmed that INEC had distributed 75.44 percent of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to validly registered voters. “As at March 22, 2015, a total number of 1,142,991 PVCs had been distributed to voters in Ondo State, representing 75.44 percent of the 1,515,034 PVCs received while 372,043 or 24.56 percent were yet to be collected by the owners”, he said. He, however, urged all stakeholders in the elections to cooperate with the commission and obey the laws guiding the conduct of the elections.

State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Isaac Eke, promised the electorate that the security agencies would exhibit a high level of professionalism during the elections and vowed that the Police Command would deal, decisively, with anybody arrested for any offence.

Some of the religious leaders present, Bishop Joshua Ketiku of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Secretary- General, League of Imams, Alhaji Sheik Ahmad Aladesawe, urged the electorate and political gladiators in the state to encourage peace during the elections and advised journalists to avoid sensational reports.