SAN FRANCISCO, January 07, (THEWILL) – The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has commenced the distribution of sensitive election materials in Bayelsa state ahead of this Saturday’s supplementary election in Southern Ijaw local government area and 101 polling units across the state.
Disclosing this on Thursday in Yenogoa, the state capital, INEC’s Public Affairs Officer in the state, Mr. Timidi Wariowei noted that the commission received all the sensitive materials on Wednesday and commenced their distribution in Ekeremor Local Government Area on Thursday.
According to him, “All the materials are now in our custody; the materials include ballot papers and result sheets.”
“On the distribution process, we intend to dispatch that of Southern-Ijaw Local Government Area early morning of Saturday.”
“You know that the real focus is the Southern-Ijaw and we do not want what happened on Dec. 5, 2015 to repeat itself in that area.”
“INEC is prepared to conduct free, fair and credible election for the betterment of the people.”
“We have over 100 polling units in the state to conduct the election and Southern-Ijaw; so, we are ready to conduct credible and acceptable election.’’
Wariowei, while stating the resolve of the electoral body to use some of the ad hoc staff that participated in the December 5 gubernatorial election in the state, pointed out that some of the ad hoc staff has been changed, particularly for the Southern-Ijaw.
“INEC is on top of the game. On security, we have been working with security agencies because without them, we cannot conduct the election.”
“We have been collaborating with the Police and Army to ensure peaceful election in Bayelsa,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the commission has announced the deployment of three national commissioners to supervise the supplementary election and a technical team to each ward where the election would be conducted.
INEC’s Deputy Director of Publicity, Nick Dazang, who disclosed on Thursday said, “The technical team would be deployed to intervene in situations where there are technical challenges as regards the use of card readers.”
He also pointed out that about 834 ad hoc staff, comprising four staff in each of the 431 polling units, would also be deployed to conduct the election.
The INEC spokesman said that election would be conducted in 425 polling units and five voting points in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.
He maintained that the supplementary election would also hold in 101 PUs in three other local government areas of the state where elections were cancelled, adding that “the commission is going to monitor the election via its situation room situated at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.”
Dazang further confirmed that the commission had on Wednesday commenced the distribution of sensitive materials from the state capital to local government areas where election would be conducted.
Commenting on security issues, he stressed that the various security agencies had during a meeting held on December 2015 assured the commission of adequate security during the election.
