Ogun, Oyo get presidential ballot papers

Ahead of Saturday’s presidential election, the Oyo State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday took delivery of the ballot papers meant for the poll. The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mr. Ayo Adakeja, disclosed this in Ibadan, the state capital, during a stakeholders’ forum attended by representatives of registered political parties in the state. He said that the ballot papers which he said were received in the presence of representatives of political parties would soon be moved to locations nearer to the polling units. He said the commission was working towards ensuring that electoral materials arrived at all polling units latest by 8am when accreditation of voters was billed to commence. Adakeja assured the people of the state that the election would be hitch-free as security would be strengthened. He declared that political parties without presidential candidates could not present party agents for the poll. He said the Electoral Act did not give provisions for political parties without candidates to present agents at polling centres. The Oyo REC however said that the result of the presidential poll would be declared in Abuja and not from the states. Also, INEC in Ogun State on Thursday received a total of 1, 980,000 ballot papers ahead of Saturday’s presidential poll. The REC in the state, Mr. Martins Okunfolami, who disclosed this at an occasion to signify commencement of the distribution of materials for the poll, also said the commission had received all the EC8 forms needed for the recording of the election results. He stated that the ballot papers brought for the election was sufficient, adding that there were 1,947,258 registered voters out of a total population of 3.7 million in the state. The surplus ballot papers, he said, was to cater for any exigency that might arise during the election, adding that the materials arrived at the commission’s headquarters from the Central Bank of Nigeria in Abuja at about 10 am on Thursday. He explained that the materials would be distributed to the 20 local government areas, from where they would be moved to the 236 wards and 3,210 polling centres in the state same day. He described the early arrival of the materials as important in order to avoid any hiccups. “We have learnt lessons from what happened during the National Assembly polls that we had to postpone the whole of the elections. The early arrival is part of the efficiency package we put into the whole thing. Now we want to ensure that no election materials will be delayed and no elections will be postponed again,” Okunfolami said. He gave the assurance that the election materials would be adequately protected, saying enough security measures had been put in place at various locations where the materials would be kept. By Francis Falola, Sesan Olufowobi and Olalekan Adetayo Courtesy Of: Punch