Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said that the commission “is ready for the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State”.
He said this at a meeting with the Joint National Assembly Committee INEC and Electoral Matters to engage with the commission over the forthcoming election in Abuja on Wednesday.
Yakubu said: “We have recovered from the series of attacks on our facilities and I am happy to say that we have deployed all the non-sensitive materials to all the local government areas.
“As far as INEC is concerned, we are good to go on Nov. 6.
“We have trained the requisite number of ad-hoc staff for the election and we have also mobilised members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) for efficient distribution of materials on election day,” he said.
On the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards in Anambra, he said, “We have a little over 81,000 valid registrants.
“With the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Anambra that includes a little over 5,000 that applied for replacement of cards and intra-state and inter-state transfers.
“We are batching the cards. They will leave first thing tomorrow (Thursday) morning for Awka and all the new registrants will get their cards before the elections.
“This time around, with the help of technology, we were able to harvest the telephone numbers and email addresses of the registrants.
“So we will contact each and every one of them and tell them where to pick their cards. But the cards will be delivered to Awka on Thursday,” he said.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Joint Committee, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, while noting the effort of security agencies said their effort and commitment to the protection of the lives and property of Nigerians was priceless and highly appreciated.
“The situation in Anambra is quite unfortunate especially at a time when we are approaching the gubernatorial election in the state.
“Elections, as you are aware, is a recruitment process of leadership as well as the foundation that carries the builders of change and development.
“Recently, INEC increased the polling units in Anambra from 4, 608 to 5, 720. This effort is to allow a situation where polling units will be accessible to the electorate this can only be achieved when and where the safety of people is assured.”
