Postponed Polls: INEC Quarantines Sensitive Electoral Materials At CBN In Delta

…Apologies To Voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC says all sensitive electoral materials that were earlier deployed for the botch presidential and national assembly elections in Delta State have been quarantined at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN for safe keeping.

The Commission also apologised to Nigerians and to all eligible voters for the inconveniences the postponement of the elections had caused them.

This was contained in a statement by Head of Departments for Voter Education and Publicity at INEC, Mr. Bukola Ojeme, made available to BIGPEN NIGERIA, saying that the internal and external security agencies have also been reinforced to take full control of providing security and restraining access to the sensitive materials.

He said that currently as at time of filing this report on Monday, all the sensitive materials are still in custody of the CBN at Asaba, the state capital.

Ojeme said that the decision to keep the materials in CBN was reached by stakeholders who met with INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr Cyril Omorogbe prior to the postponement on Saturday from where both political parties and security agencies agreed on the modalities for safe keeping of the sensitive materials.

He said that the commission in compliance with timeline of activities for new dates of polls, has commenced the reconfiguration of 5,823 Smart Card Readers (SCRs) and 5% of 5,823 as back up to input the new date of election from Sunday February 17th, 2019.

“The commission has also commenced the implementation of other ancillery task indicated in the timeline of activities to ensure a seamless deployment of men and materials to the field on the new dates”.

The commission wishes to appealed to political parties in Delta State to respect the understanding of “no campaign” before the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday February 23, 2019.

INEC however thanked the political parties and security agencies under the auspices of Inter-agencies Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) for their understanding and support for the nation’s general elections.

“The Commission apologies to voters for the inconveniences and urged them to come out enmass to freely express their choices through the ballot on the new dates of poll.

Furthermore, “the Commission assures all stakeholders of its commitment to transparency, neutrality and impartiality in the discharge of its mandate”, the statement added.