Ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has commenced distribution of election sensitive materials in Osun State.
Earlier, the Commission,led by the Resident Electoral Commission, Dr Mutiu Agboke had collected the materials from the Osogbo branch of the CBN under the watch of security and journalists.
Addressing officials, commercial transporters and representatives of political parties at the INEC headquarters in Osogbo, Dr Agboke said the early deployment of the materials three days before the election was to prevent late arrival to the polling units.
He noted that from INEC offices across the thirty local governments in Osun State, the materials would further be distributed to the registration centers.
The Osun Resident Electoral Commissioner maintained that the early arrival of the materials was enough to assure Nigerians that the election would hold on Saturday.
Dr Agboke said all the required adhoc staff for the election had been adequately trained on their duties and responsibilities during the exercise.
In their responses, representatives of some political parties that were present commended the transparent manner the materials were distributed, with a pledge to cooperate with INEC to ensure that the electorate cast their votes without undue influence.
The Chairman of Allied Peoples Movement, APM in Osun State, Mr Simon Adebayo said the early arrival would douse apprehension among Osun residents who were skeptical about the conduct of the election.
Similarly, Prince Bello Adebayo who is the Chairman of the Labour Party in Osun State pleaded with INEC to ensure that nothing technical hinder the free conduct of Saturday’s exercise.
As at the time of filling this report,the sensitive materials were being loaded into the waiting vehicles for onward transfer to the various local governments.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced distribution of sensitive election materials to the 20 Local Government in Lagos State.
Recall that the electoral umpire had earlier fixed the Presidential and National Assembly elections for Saturday, February 25, 2023.
Confirming the commencement of the distribution of the materials, the Police Public Relations Officer in Lagos, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the the process was monitored by the Commission of Police in the State, CP Idowu Owohunwa.
