From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has charged the electorate participating in the three off-cycle governorship elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states to take their destinies into their hands in deciding who finally become their governors.
Yakubu, in his message ahead of the election, reassured that the commission will provide a level playing field after securing assurances from security agencies to protest the environment for electoral activities.
He revealed that as part of the determination to deliver a free, fair, transparent elections, the commission will deploy two National Commissioners, nine Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), Administrative Secretaries (ASs) and additional staff from different states to each of the three states to support the process.
The electoral umpire boss appealed to the INEC officials (both regular and ad-hoc) to demonstrate highest level of patriotism and professionalism.
“In few hours, 5,169,692 Nigerians who collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are expected to vote in off-cycle governorship elections. This is the first time in our history that these elections are held on the same day and across three geo-political zones of the country: North Central (Kogi), South East (Imo) and South South (Bayelsa).
“As we approach the Election Day, I wish to call on our officials (both regular and ad-hoc) to demonstrate the highest level of patriotism and professionalism. As I said repeatedly, not least during my recent readiness assessment visits to the three States, INEC is not a political party and we have no candidate in the election.
“Our responsibility is to safeguard the process and ensure a level playing field for all political parties and candidates. The choice of who becomes the governor of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states is entirely in the hands of voters,” Yakubu noted.
On the deployment of technology for the poll, the INEC chairman said: “We have delivered all sensitive and non-sensitive materials for the elections. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) have been configured for deployment to Polling Units as the only means of voter verification and fingerprint/facial biometric authentication of voters.
“Polling Unit results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. All election duty officials have been trained. Arrangements have been made for land and maritime transportation to enable us commence voting on schedule.
“In spite of the extremely difficult terrain and physical infrastructure in some locations, we are determined to ensure that our officials are there waiting for voters rather than the voters waiting for our arrival,” he assured.
He said INEC was deploying two National Commissioners, nine RECs and ASs as well as additional staff from different states to each of the three states to support the process, adding that they would be deployed across the senatorial zones in the states.