The Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday commenced distribution of sensitive materials for Saturday’s Governorship Election in Ekiti State.
The materials were distributed at the INEC State Office in Ado Ekiti in the presence of journalists, political parties and security agents to the electoral officers across the 16 local government areas of the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Adeniran Tella, who distributed the materials, said the electoral officers would take the items to their councils where they would be sent to the polling units on Saturday morning.
He gave assurance that there would be no late arrival of materials to polling units on election day.
Tella said that the ballot papers were coded in different colours for each local government in order to prevent electoral fraud.
He added that the result sheets were also customized according to each polling unit.
Some of the party agents at the centre lauded INEC for the transparent manner in which the materials were distributed.
Some of the materials distributed were: Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BIVAS machines, Ballot papers, Result sheets, Booklets, , Forms EC 8A, B, C, D,E, forms EC 4zero G, 4 zero G1 and 2.
Also, the Deputy Inspector General of Police Johnson Kokumo, has given assurance that there will be adequate security of lives and properties in Ekiti during and after the state governorship election.
Kokumo, who is in charge of securing the state during the Saturday governorship, gave the assurance at a pre-election stakeholder security meeting in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday.
The DIG disclosed that about 17,000 security operatives had been deployed for the poll to ensure that the state was properly secured to avoid any breakdown of law and order.
He emphasized that the deployed operatives were meant to secure the state and not for any form of intimidation of the citizens.
Kokumo added that soldiers would be at the borders of the communities to secure every corner of the state and prevent any type of intruders from entry.
He disclosed that security operatives attached to all Very Important Persons had been withdrawn and returned to base for the purpose of the election.
The DIG also called on the people to be law abiding and respect all the processes of the election, to be able to have a peaceful and credible poll in the state. (NAN)
