Ahead of the November 16 governorshiip election in Ondo state, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed the arrival of all sensitive materials to the state capital, Akure
INEC in a statement, noted that the material have been domiciled with office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the state capital, for safety adding the materials would be transparently distributed to all the local government areas in the state on Thursday ahead of the Saturday date for the election
The materials, according to a post on INEC’s X handle, on Monday, were transported by the Nigerian Air Force to the state and have been received by officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN).
Confirming the arrival of the materials, INEC’s Assistant Director, Voters Education and Publicity, Dr Temitope Akanmu, said the inspection of the items will hold on Wednesday at the CBN office in Akure, before distribution to the local government headquarters for the election.
“Presently, every arrangement concerning logistics has been completed, especially to move man and materials from local government to RAC and to polling units.
“When the sensitive materials arrive, they will be sent down to local government on Thursday and the arrangement is that the farthest distance will be allowed to be moved first to get the materials to the local government that is far from the state capital.
“Again, we’ve always been engaging the transport union, the NURTW, NATO and MAHUM whom we have signed an MoU with and they have assured us that they are going to support us.
“The INEC chairman held a meeting with these transporters and the essence of this is that we know and understand that logistics has always been a challenge in the past but we hope that this time around, there won’t be any cause for any alarm.
“They have assured us that they are going to give us vehicles and boats on water and motorcycles in some difficult terrain,” Akanmu noted
This is even as political parties and their candidates have intensified efforts to woo others on their side
The parties are currently involved in the final stage of their campaign as most would hold their campaign grand finale on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of Saturday’s governorship election
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said it would hold it campaign grand finale on Wednesday at the MKO Abiola park
A total of 17 parties are fielding candidates, while INEC confirms that more than 1.7 million prospective voters registered for the election.
Meanwhile, the political parties it was gathered, have employed several gimmicks, including the distribution of cash, food items and other gifts to woo voters
Several Akure residents have confirmed receiving food items from political parties in the state during campaign, as parties embarked on the distribution of food parcels to people during rallies.
The residents said the development is a new strategy employed by politicians to woo voters with the distribution being done through community leaders. The items include fertilizers, rice, gaari, beans, sugar, salt, groundnut oil, spaghetti and noodles
This is even as residents have complained of scarcity of cash in the banks operating in the state blaming it on mass withdrawal from politicians, allegedly for the purpose of vote buying and other election activities
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