The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has distributed sensitive electoral materials to the 21 Local Government Areas in Anambra for Saturday’s governorship election.
Dr Elizabeth Agwu, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, said this while distributing the materials on Thursday at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) premises in Awka.
“We have inspected the sensitive material with the Commissioner of Police in charge of this election and other stakeholders involved.
“We have also concluded that the materials are all intact. Right now, we will start distributing them to the 21 LGAs in the state,” she said.
Agwu listed the sensitive materials to include 2,802,790 copies of ballot papers, 5,720 booklets of form EC 8A, and 287 booklets of form EC 8A for replacement.
Others are 326 booklets of form EC 8B, 73 booklets of form EC 8B for continuations, and 21 booklets of form EC 8B for replacement.
She said that other sensitive materials include 21 booklets of form EC 8C, 21 booklets of form EC 8C for replacement, one booklet of form EC 8D, one booklet of form EC 8D for replacement, and one booklet of form EC 8E.
Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the election, Abayomi Shogunle, expressed satisfaction with the security of the sensitive material.
Shogunle said that the 55,000 security personnel from various security agencies that would be involved in the election would be deployed as three per polling unit and other places.
He urged residents to come out en masse to vote, as adequate security arrangements have been made for all the stakeholders involved in the election.
Mr Patrick Mba, the state Commissioner for Youth Development, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and Coalition Agent, Onitsha North LGA, also expressed satisfaction with INEC’s handling of the election material.
According to him, the sensitive materials are intact and being distributed transparently. I will say kudos to INEC.
“So far, so good, we are ready for the election. Our prayer is that we should have a peaceful and credible election,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 2,769,137 out of 2,802,790 registered voters in Anambra, representing 98.8 per cent collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the Saturday governorship election in the state.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, described the turnout for PVC collection as “a significant achievement” for any election in Nigeria.
He noted that the commission’s decision to extend the deadline for the collection of the cards across all 326 Registration Areas enabled nearly every eligible voter to obtain their card.
