We Are Deploying 9 RECs To Imo For Saturday’s Guber Poll – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has announced the deployment of nine additional Residents Electoral Commissioners (REC) for the conduct of the scheduled governorship election on Saturday, November 11, 2023.

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who announced this on Monday, November 6, 2023 at a stakeholders’ meeting which was attended by governorship candidates, chairmen and secretaries of the political parties participating in the election as well as representatives of Civil Society Organisations, said the RECs were drawn from Cross Rivers, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Oyo, Katsina, Gombe and Yobe States.

The Commission’s chairman who was represented by the National Commissioner in-charge of the South-East, Mr Kenneth Ukeagu, also said that the Administrative Secretary of the Commission in Ekiti State was among those deployed to provide supervisory support at the local government level.

He allayed fears that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) had been compromised, saying that the BVAS have been configured and a mock accreditation conducted.

Yakubu further said; “There will be no foreign figures in the BVAS at the polling units. We are confident that BVAS will work effectively”.

Fielding questions from stakeholders at the meeting, the INEC boss debunked insinuations that the collation centers had been moved from the designated centers to Local Government Headquarters.

Yakubu said that non-sensitive materials had been conveyed to the Commission’s offices in the 27 Local Government Areas of the state.

According to him; “The commission has mobilised the National Union of Road Transport Workers to ensure timely movement of election materials to the polling units”.

He appealed to voters to turn out in large number to exercise their franchise, saying that the Commission was determined to ensure that their votes count.

Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police, represented by ACP Musa Abdullahi, urged voters and residents of the state to disregard calls for a lockdown by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, adding that the police was prepared to defend and protect lives and property as much as they can within available resources.