The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ebonyi on Thursday in Abakaliki distributed sensitive materials for Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly election to the 13 Local Government Areas of the state.

The exercise which took place at the Abakaliki branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was witnessed and monitored by security agents; political party agents, party chairmen and local foreign election observers.

Pauline Onyeka, the INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ebonyi, while briefing journalists, said that the commission was fully prepared for the election exercise.

She said that adequate security and other logistical arrangements were in place to ensure credible, free, transparent elections in the state.

She said: “You can see for yourselves, we are sharing our sensitive election materials here in the Central Bank of Nigeria; the materials including the ballot papers and result sheets must touch the local government areas today.

“Once the materials get to the various LGAs, they will be shared tonight and by the next day (Friday), they will move to the registration areas centres (RACs) for use on Saturday’s election.

“We are good to go and I want to assure the Ebonyi electorate that their votes will count and they should go out on Saturday to cast their votes for the candidates of their choice.

The REC further disclosed that about 12,000 ad-hoc staff had been recruited and would be deployed for the election in the state.

On the fate of those who did collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), the REC explained that it was not the fault of the commission stressing that enough time was given for owners to collect their PVCs.

Ms Onyeka also noted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine would be distributed to the Electoral Officers by Friday, February 24 at the commission’s state headquarters. 

(NAN)