Rivers: INEC distributes sensitive election materials to 3 LGAs

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers on Wednesday officially received election sensitive materials from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and immediately commenced distribution to Local Government Areas.

The Resident Commissioner for INEC, Mr Johnson Alalibo, disclosed this after receiving the election sensitive materials from CBN in Port Harcourt.

Alalibo said that the Commission immediately commenced the distribution with three local government areas to achieve the completion of the distribution of the materials within the short time frame before the election on Feb, 25.

He said that the Commission received ballot papers and result sheets for the Presidential, House of Representatives and Senate elections in the state.

Similarly, Dr Mike Odey, the Election Operations INEC l, explained the technical details of the sensitive materials.

“Ballot papers for the presidential election were batched according to local governments and were customised, while the result sheets were also batched into two pallets arranged in order.”

Odey said that the first three local governments to be distributed included Port Harcourt City Local Government, Obiakpor Local Government and Bonny Local Government.

He said it was due to the massive nature of the LGAs and the difficult terrain of the Bonny LGA, while the distribution for other LGAs continues on Feb. 23.

CP Aderemi Adeoye, the Commissioner of Police deployed to Rivers to oversee the security arrangement for 2023 general election, said that the electoral materials were sealed, intact and untampered.

Adeoye said that the police Command had done a lot of work to ensure that there were no lapses in the security architecture, and more had yet to be done to finetune the process in a way that all the stakeholders in the electoral process would have a conducive atmosphere without fear or favour.

He observed that every necessary arrangement was on course, saying that the personnel would remain on ground and be deployed at every nook and cranny of the state to provide adequate security for the people to exercise their franchise.

“We will work hand in hand with other security agencies to give needed support to INEC to deliver on the mandate the constitution imposed on them in delivering a credible and fair election,” he said.

The Commissioner of Police noted that 17,000 personnels comprising police, military, DSS and other paramilitary services would be deployed for the election in the state.

He said that the security agencies were committed to giving their best to ensuring that the masses vote their conscience without intimidation or inducement.

Mr Nwogu Bums, the state collection agent for Social Democratic Party (SDP), said that the distribution process was open and transparent so far.

It was reported that present at the distribution of the materials are INEC officials, security agents, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), party agents, Central Bank officials, Observers of different Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the Media.