The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun the movement of sensitive materials—ballot papers and result sheets—to Remo North, Ikenne, and Sagamu Local Government Areas ahead of the Saturday, August 16, bye-election in Remo Federal Constituency of Ogun State.

The Remo Federal Constituency became vacant following the death of House of Representatives Deputy Chief Whip, Otunba Adewunmi Oriyomi Onanuga, popularly called Ijaya. The late All Progressives Congress (APC) Reps member died on January 15, 2025, after a protracted illness.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Ogun State, Mrs. Saseyi Feyijimi, who coordinated the movement of sensitive materials from the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Abeokuta zonal office, assured a transparent process in the conduct of the bye-election tomorrow.

The inspection and movement of the materials were witnessed by critical stakeholders, including security agencies and agents of three political parties—Olusegun Bankole (APC), Afolabi Orekoya (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP), and Ayodeji Daodu (ACCORD Party).
REC Feyijimi told reporters that the Commission was fully committed to transparency, adding that the 2,445 officers trained for the bye-election had been warned not to engage in any infraction.
She emphasized that INEC would not defend any staff member who engages in any infraction, saying anyone caught committing an infraction would face the consequences.

She said, “Today we are at the CBN to pick sensitive materials—the result sheets and ballot papers. The non-sensitive materials have been distributed to the local government areas earlier. The critical stakeholders are here. Members of the inter-agency consultative committee on election security are all here. We have the supporting Resident Electoral Commissioner from Lagos, who is also here, and we have the political parties present.

“The usual practice is to distribute materials in the open so that everybody can see. All can see that the materials have not been opened, and pictures have been taken for everyone to see that we are doing it in a transparent manner.

“We promise to be fair, to be just, and to be open to all. Every exercise that we do, we publish. We have a platform for the media, and we have a platform for the security agencies. We tell them at every point in time what we are going to do. That is why they are all here, and we have made it so open. Even in the local governments where elections are taking place, our officers, in conjunction with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), have been sensitizing the people. Nothing is hidden, and our doors are open.

“The adhoc staff we have trained, some of them are already on their way to their centres. The election commences at 8:30 am tomorrow in all polling centres and ends at 2:30 pm, but if you are in the queue at the close of the poll, you will be allowed to vote. We have officials to do the job. We have trained 2,445 officials as of Friday, August 15. We have our BIVAS ready, and we have backups.

“On our part, we are committed to being transparent. We are not going to defend anybody (staffer) who goes out to engage in any infraction. We have warned our staff that everybody should do what is right. Anybody caught doing any infraction is on his or her own because the National Chairman has also warned us that anybody doing any infraction will not be spared.”