By Stanley Nwanosike
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will soon conclude the process of moving all the sensitive materials for Saturday polls to the 17 local government areas of Enugu State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC has fixed Feb. 25 for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, as well as March 11 for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Enugu State, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, told NAN early on Friday that the trucking process of lifting the sensitive materials to various council areas had been ongoing hitch-free.
Chukwu said that the sensitive materials being moved included the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, ballot papers and result sheets, among others.
“Once we load sensitive materials, the trucks accompanied by security and INEC officials will get the election result sheets from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Enugu branch, and its onward movement to the council areas.
“I sincerely believe that early this morning, all the trucks must have got to their respective local government areas, as some reached the council areas before 12 midnight yesterday (Thursday), Feb. 23.
“Buses will further take the materials, INEC staff and security to INEC’s Registration Area Centres (RAC) already activated for the polls this morning, Feb. 24.
“From the RAC centres, both materials (sensitive and non-sensitive), INEC staff and security will move down to the various polling units under each RAC early before 8 a.m. on Saturday for the polls proper,” he said.
The REC said that INEC had concluded all levels of training as at Feb. 22 as well as did deployment of all trained staff and ad-hoc staff for the polls.
He said that the commission remained grateful for the adequate deployment of security personnel and logistics in the state for the polls through the Inter-agency Consultation Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
Chukwu said that the commission had signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with transport unions operating in the state on its members using their vehicles to deliver quality services during the election period.
“Our INEC headquarters have had an agreement with the NNPC limited, for some fuel stations in the hinterland to sell fuel at approved official prices for all vehicles on official election duties during this period.
“The election duty drivers will get their fuel products at the official price and in known designated fuel stations,” he said. (NAN)
