The Independent National Electoral Commission has begun the distribution of sensitive materials for the governorship election in Ondo State scheduled for Saturday.
On Wednesday, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Babalola, spoke to journalists during the inspection of the sensitive materials, which were stored at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
She explained that the purpose of the inspection was to ensure transparency in the electoral process and demonstrate that the materials had not been tampered with since their arrival, according to Leadership.
The REC further clarified that the materials were carefully sealed and that the inspection was a measure to guarantee their integrity ahead of the election. Babalola highlighted that the materials would be distributed to Local Government areas starting from Thursday, with the farthest Local Governments receiving theirs first to ensure timely arrival. The distribution process would continue, with materials being allocated to Registration Areas and Polling Units.
The commission’s decision to invite key stakeholders, including security personnel, political parties, election observers, and the media, to observe the inspection was aimed at reinforcing its commitment to a free, fair, and credible election.
According to the REC,”We have our schedule for distribution of materials. We received the materials on Monday, we scheduled Wednesday for the inspection of the materials, the distribution is going to be on Thursday.
“The reason we invited critical stakeholders such as security officers, political parties, observers, and media, among others to this inspection is to show transparency of all the sensitive materials as they were received. You could see that they were well-wrapped, and nobody had tampered with them.
“When we come tomorrow(Thursday) for distribution, we will open them Local Government by Local Government, give them to the Electoral Officers, we will start with the most far LG so that they can get to their LG on time. When they get to the LG, they will start distributing to Registration Areas and Polling Units.”
