The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that it is 90 per cent ready for the November 11 governorship election in Kogi.

Gabriel Longpet, the Kogi INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), made this known in an interview with journalists in Lokoja on Monday.

“I can say we are 90% prepared. If not for the fact that we are waiting for sensitive materials such as the ballot papers and the result sheets, I would have told you we are 99.9% prepared,” the INEC official said.

Mr Longpet also disclosed that the commission has recruited over 15,000 ad hoc staff to help it in the smooth conduct of the poll across the 3,508 polling units.

The REC said the electoral umpire would deploy more BVAS highly populated polling units to complement those to be used for the polls.

“To be precise, we are going to use more than 900 backup BVAS,” said Mr Longpet. “This is because some polling units have more than 1,000 to 2,000 registered voters, and we have to split the number by creating more voting points for easy voting.”

“As soon as there is a report of any BVAS failure or challenge, we shall provide another one and configure it to that polling unit for smooth continuation of voting,” he added.

On whether the commission would use helicopters or choppers to distribute voting materials in hard-to-reach areas, the REC said he was unaware of such a plan, but “we will ensure that all the polling units get their materials on time”.

Mr Longpet further explained that the BVAS had been deployed to the 21 local government areas in the state in readiness for the election.

On security, the commissioner said flash points, which the security operatives identified, would be well taken care of to ensure a hitch-free election.

“The security agencies have always given us assurances. On our part as a commission, there is nothing we can do. We only rely on them because we are not in control of the security,” he said. 

(NAN)