INEC takes delivery of sensitive materials in Lagos, begins distribution to LGAs

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State on Wednesday, took delivery of sensitive materials for Saturday’s General Elections from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, told our correspondent in Lagos that the commission had begun their distribution to the 20 local government areas of the state.

Our correspondent reports that the Presidential and National Assembly (NASS) elections are scheduled for Saturday.

Agbaje said: “We have taken delivery of the sensitive materials today. It started very well and the distribution to the 20 local government areas is still going. We are in the last phase of the process of the elections.

“We have taken the ballot papers and the results sheet for the Presidential, Senatorial and the House of Representatives Elections taking place on Saturday, Feb. 25.”

He said the exercise was witnessed by the Commissioner of Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa, Department of State Security (DSS), political party officials, observers (EU and ECOWAS) among others.

“We have invited every stakeholder to see the transparency that INEC has been talking about, and so that everybody can see that we are on the same page.

“With the movement of sensitive materials to local government areas, that is to show the nation that the commission is ready and that we are there to ensure that Feb. 25 is sacrosanct just like March 11 will also be.

“Nothing will stop INEC from going ahead on Saturday.

“We are also sending Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to various local governments areas, they are being loaded from here (INEC headquarters), and trucks are taking them to various local government areas,” he said.

The commissioner said the BVAS had been fully configured and would be fully charged.

According to him, by the end of Wednesday, all the 20 LGAs in the state will have got their materials and by Thursday, everything LGAs will have been settled, followed by the sorting on Registration Areas/Ward basis.

He said that on Friday, the materials would be carried to various RAs and to various RACs (Registration Area Centres) where INEC officials would keep the night doing the sorting on various polling units basis before being moved on Saturday morning to the various polling units.

Counselling political gladiators and their followers, Agbaje urged politicians to trust INEC saying: “With the level that we have gone so far, we do not see any reason why they should not believe INEC.

“We want them (politicians) to do the needful by talking to their supporters to ensure that we have peace on Saturday and also to mobilise them to come out massively to vote.

“Lagos state has a total voter population of over seven million and about 6.7 million collected their PVCs.

“So, we don’t see why we should not have between five million to six million coming out to cast their votes on election day in Lagos.

“We want politicians to ensure peaceful election so that the process can go on well,” he said.

According to him, the police and other security agencies have assured INEC of massive deployment to all the nooks and crannies of the state to ensure a hitch-free election.

He urged the electorate not to exhibit any fear, as the security would protect voters, INEC staff and materials, international and domestic observers.

Our correspondent reports that the voters in the state on Saturday would be electing the President, three senators and 24 members of the House of Representatives members in the state.

A total of 6,707, 451 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were collected before the deadline out of 7, 637,402 PVCs received in the state.

He said that INEC would deploy 13, 325 BVAS to the 13, 325 polling units spread across the 245 wards in the 20 local government areas of the state.