By Thompson Yamput
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has slated Saturday for mock accreditation of voters in preparation for the Nov. 11 Governorship Election in the state.
The INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, disclosed this at the Kogi INEC Headquarters in Lokoja during the presentation of official publication/presentation of Register of Voters to the 18 participating political parties in the upcoming governorship election.
Yakubu, who was represented by a National Commissioner, Prof. Sani Adam (SAN), said that the exercise would take place in only nine polling units; three each from the three senatorial districts of the state.
The chairman announced that similar excise shall simultaneously take place in Bayelsa and Imo states, whose governorship election shall also hold on Nov. 11.
He called on the residents/voters in the selected polling units to come out en masse to participate in the exercise, which he described as a litmus test to the real election.
According to him, the commission is well prepared for the governorship poll, and appealed to politicians and electorate to abide by the rules of the game for a peaceful, credible and successful conduct of the election.
“We have all it takes in terms of staff and logistics as well as the necessary security support by security operatives to conduct a peaceful and successful election in Kogi.
“As a commission, we expect everyone to eschew any form of violence or crisis to help usher in a leader that will pilot the affairs of the state after Jan. 26, for the desired growth and development,” he advised.
Yakubu said that the publication and presentation of register of voters to the 18 political parties was imperative toward getting fillers from them on the upcoming election.
He said that the total number of registered voters in Kogi for the election is 1,932,654, comprising 953,941 males and 953,941 females.
“A copy of the Register of Voters in PDF will be issued to all the political parties contesting the election.
“The commission will deploy Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in all the 3,508 polling units in Kogi for the election.
“Already, we have trained technical support staff that will be deployed to all the Registration Areas (RAs) and the local Governments to provide technical support for BVAS,” he said.
Responding, the state IPAC Chairman, Mr Ukwenge Musa, commended INEC for its preparations and readiness for the Nov. 11 governorship election.
He assured the commission of the support of the participating political parties to ensure that the election was peaceful and successful. (NAN)
