Ado Ekiti – The Independent National Electoral Commission (NEC) says about one million voters are to cast ballots during the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti.
Barr. Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said this at Ado-Ekiti at a roundtable for media executives.
Okoye assured Ekiti voters of free, fair and credible election, and said 734,746 potential voters had collected Permanent Voter Cards as at May 27.
“For this particular election, after the Commission updated the voters register, we came to the conclusion that 988,923 voters will likely vote in 177 Registration Areas,’’ he said.
He explained that the figure represented those already on the register and those who registered during the continuous voters registration exercise.
“On Election Day, the Commission will deploy ad-hoc staff from 107 registration centres, made up of 46 registration areas and 61 super registration areas.
“The Commission will also deploy to 2,445 polling units slightly above 10,000 ad-hoc staff to conduct the election,’’ he said.
Okoye added that non-sensitive materials had been deployed to the 16 local government areas of the state noting that the election would serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2023 general elections.
“The Commission is happy and elated at the level of preparations for this election.
“All the 16 local government areas have received the full complement of non-sensitive materials, dispatched in accordance with all registration areas and wards.
“We assure the people of Ekiti that we will conduct free, fair and credible election.
“For the Commission to continue to serve the people better we have brought in technological innovations.
“We shall use this particular election to test some of our technological innovations to ensure that we get everything right at the 2023 general elections,’’ Okoye said.
Earlier in his welcome address, Dr Tella Adeniran, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ekiti State enjoined the media executives to avoid any superficiality in their reports.
Adeniran, who was represented by Mr Femi Akinbiyi, the Head of Department, Voter Education and Publicity, said: ‘You should be mindful of the fact that our reportage of electoral events has a great effect in facilitating credible elections and corresponding social order.”
Several papers were presented at the roundtable meeting.
Mrs Titilayo Oderinde, the INEC’s Head of Department, ICT, Ekiti State, who was represented by Mr Opeyemi Aina, presented a paper on Technological innovations by INEC with emphasis on BVAS and its usage.
Also, Prof. M. J. Kuna, Special Assistant to INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu spoke on ‘Brief on INEC’s Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMS) while Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman delivered a paper on the INEC Social Media platforms and INEC News. (vitalnews)
