Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, has revealed that non sensitive materials have been deployed to Kogi and Bayelsa States ahead of November 16 gubernatorial election.
In his interaction with Senate Committee on INEC, on the update of activities of INEC ahead of November election, he said, non sensitive materials have been delivered in advance preparation.
Committee Chairman, Senator Kabir Gaya in his opening remark, sought to know the level of INEC’s preparedness to avoid unforseen catastrophe, but the umpire insisted that it was well prepared to conduct a hitch-free election, adding that there was budgetary provision for contingencies.
“Non sensitive materials have been delivered to Kogi and Bayelsa States ahead of November 16 governorship election.”
“”We are making arrangement for use of manual registers with the use of card reader machines.
“We have also started the recruitment of personnel to be used during elections including Corp members who would also be trained.
Speaking on looming electoral violence, he said INEC has taken into cognizance crisis that happened during primaries in Kogi and Bayelsa governorship primaries, saying that they have engaged the Inspector General of Police on the issue.
“We have taken into consideration what happened during governorship primaries in Kogi and Bayelsa States and we have engaged the Inspector General of Police on deployment of Security agents.”
INEC Chairman, who appeared before the Committee with some of his top officials, added that they would meet with stakeholders and traditional rulers in Kogi and Bayelsa to discuss a peaceful means of conducting the elections.
