INEC sends 25,000 ad hoc staff to Ogun

About 25,000 Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad hoc staff will be in Ogun State today for the presidential and national assembly elections.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Abdulganiyu Raji, told The Guardian that all the sensitive materials had been deployed to the various councils.

Raji assured that the commission had put all necessary measures in place to ensure credible polls.

He said: “We are fully ready; even by last week, we were 98 per cent ready. All the sensitive materials had been distributed to their locations and are being guarded by security officials.”

Raji said the commission trained 25,000 ad hoc staff, 17,000 out of which are corps members.

He, however, expressed reservations that because of the sudden postponement of the election last week, some of the ad hoc staff might not show up.

Assuring that the hitches experienced last week by the corps members would not recur as necessary arrangements had been made, he noted that the over 600,000 uncollected Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) had been returned since last week.

Apart from armed policemen guarding the premises, electoral officers mostly from the Federal College of Education (FCE), Osiele, were gathered in groups waiting for their posting.

Some of them told The Guardian that they were instructed to report at the commission’s office for briefing and deployment.

They have been trained as collation officers across the various units and councils.

Residents expressed their readiness to perform their civic duties and prayed that the election would be peaceful.

Citing the violence that trailed the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential rally in the state, residents pleaded with law enforcement agencies to ensure safety of lives and property.

At the Oba Lipede Market in the state capital, normal business activities went on unhindered while the motor parks were calm.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who is also a senatorial candidate, was having last minute meeting with party leaders across the state at MITROS, located within the Government Reservation Area (GRA), Abeokuta.