The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Edo State office, has commenced the distribution of sensitive materials for the state house of assembly elections across all 18 local government areas in the state.
Obo Efanga, Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, who spoke after the inspection of the materials kept at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday in Benin City, said the materials will be conveyed to various council areas immediately after the sorting process.
Efanga noted that the commission has reviewed previous happenings in the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections and has made plans, including early distribution of the ballot papers and result sheets as well as intensify security measures to ensure that the March 18 election is successful.
“Today is March 15, we are here at CBN to distribute the sensitive materials specifically the ballot papers and the results sheets to the various local government ahead of the Saturday house of assembly elections.
“We have gone in with the party agents that are present here, we have looked at the materials and saw that they are still in crates and cartons as they came. When we finish, we will now bring out the cartons and arrange them by local government and the electoral officers will sort them out.
“The party agents will again verify that the materials are intact and complete. After which, we will now move them to their various locations today. That means our staff at the local government will have the whole of Thursday to batch them into polling units and move them on Friday to the Registration Area Centres (RAC),” Efanga said.
The resident electoral commissioner equally disclosed that elections for the Esan central/ Esan West/ Igueben federal constituency that was earlier postponed would be conducted on Saturday, March 18.
