INEC officials in Kaduna distribute election materials to councils

Vow to conduct free,fair credible polls

Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kaduna, yesterday embarked on delivering of voting materials in the 23 councils of the state for Saturday’s presidential elections.

INEC officials took delivery of sensitive electoral materials from the state branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and were dispatched to various councils.

Among those who witnessed the distribution exercise were local and foreign observers, representatives of the 18 political parties, whose candidates are vying for elective positions, except the All Progressives Congress (APC), which was not represented.

Speaking with journalists during the distribution, INEC Administrative Secretary, Kaduna State, Muhammad Auwal Mashi, yesterday, said: “What we are doing here in the CBN branch in Kaduna is the distribution of sensitive materials for the elections that will be held on February 25, which are the presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives elections.”

“As I am talking to you now, all our 23 council electoral officers have been called from the field, and they are here to flag off the distribution of materials.

“Unlike previous elections, where there were over 90 political parties, this time around there are only 18 political parties, and it is only in the presidential election that all 18 parties fielded candidates.

He said: “If you look at the quantity of materials we are going to distribute, it is not as huge as it was in 2019; so, hopefully, it will be easier to distribute in good time.”

According to him, the next thing to do is transportation of the election materials to all 23 councils, pointing out that “we just had our meeting of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on election security, and we made it known to them that we are taking the materials to the councils. The plan is for security agencies to provide us with security for men and materials, which are to be taken to the councils, including areas where we have security challenges.

“With regard to figures of materials distributed, Kaduna state has 4.3million registered voters; so, we should expect to have a similar number; but we do not wish to disenfranchise anybody. Every registered voter in Kaduna is going to cast his or her ballot on election day.”