The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Oyo State will on Saturday conduct mock voters’ accreditation in selected 12 polling units across the three senatorial districts of the state.

Adeniran Tella, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, made this known on Wednesday at a stakeholders’ meeting held at the INEC headquarters in Ibadan.

According to Mr Tella, the exercise will take place in four polling units in each of the senatorial districts, between 8:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in all the affected local polling units.

“In Oyo Central Senatorial District, four polling units where the exercise will take place are Anglican Primary School Akingbile I (PU 001) and Olugbode (PU 034), both in the Akinyele Local Government area.

“Also, at LA Primary School Sabo (PU 010) and St Michael School Esiele (PU 011) both in Atiba LGA.

“In Oyo North Senatorial District, the mock voters’ accreditation will take place at PU 024 and PU 002 in Kabiyesi Street Iseyin and LA Demonstration School, Iseyin, respectively.

“In addition, the exercise will hold at PU 014 and PU 013 both situated at Okeaanu Town Planning and Blind Centre, respectively in Ogbomoso North LGA.

“In Oyo South Senatorial District, mock accreditation will be held at Oba Akinbiyi High School, Mokola (PU 017) and Methodist Primary School Bodija (PU 005), both in Ibadan North LGA.

“Also, the exercise will take place at PU 001 and PU 009, situated inside St Peter Secondary School, Apete and Open Space, Ido Garage respectively in Ido LGA,” the REC said.

He further disclosed that INEC in the state has taken delivery of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the general elections, adding that the machines have been tested to ensure their functionality on election day.

Mr Tella implored all registered voters in the affected polling units to appear on the scheduled date with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the mock accreditation.

He explained that the exercise would help to reassure the general public of the robustness of the BVAS.

Mr Tella added that the exercise would further strengthen the commission’s processes ahead of the general election in the state.

He, however, said the 12 BVAS machines to be used for the mock accreditation would be reconfigured after the exercise before deploying them for the general elections.

On the level of preparations for the general elections, Mr Tella said the commission was fully ready, adding that a series of training was being conducted for both staff and ad hoc staff members to have a seamless election in the state.

On PVCs collection in the state, the REC said that over 800, 000 uncollected PVCs were still in the custody of the commission in the state.

He urged owners of such cards to visit the offices of the commission across the 33 LGAs for collection.

The members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state, representatives of security agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were among the stakeholders that attended the meeting.

(NAN)