2.32m to vote at 3,933 polling units in Borno

Borno State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mohammed Magaji, has said that 2.32 million electorate will vote in 3,933 polling units today across the state.

Announcing the commencement of distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials on Friday in Maiduguri, Magaji said accreditation and voting would be carried out in series and simultaneously between 8am and 2pm of today.

He added that ballot papers, result sheets and other EC forms, including smart card readers, had been provided and fully enhanced and configured for delivery to polling stations.

“Ninety-seven per cent of non-sensitive materials have been delivered to the 27 councils in Borno,” he said.

According to him, security architecture for the elections has been designed, developed and deployed to accompany 11,000 officers to secure electoral staff, logistic materials and buildings.

He disclosed that 5,071 card readers had been procured and delivered to all the polling units.

Magaji added that 532,335 Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) were produced by the commission in 2017 and 2018, out of which 371,372 had been collected.

He said the uncollected PVCs with the commission stood at 160,863, adding that during the general elections in 2015, INEC received 1,667,097 PVCs and distributed 1,628,856 cards to the electorate.

Speaking on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) voting centres, Magaji said: “Eight IDP voting centres have been identified to accommodate 409,000 registered voters.”

According to him, the inaccessibility of Kala/Balge, Abadam, Guzamala, Marte, Dikwa, Ngala, Kukawa and Mobbar councils by the commission has designated Maiduguri, Monguno and Gambouru IDP camps for the general elections.

He said the commission was committed to conduct credible elections in the state.