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From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Ahead of Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections, Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has taken delivery of sensitive electoral materials from the Makurdi Branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), for onward distribution to the 23 Local Government Areas, LGAs, of Benue state.
The election materials which include ballots papers and results sheets were received by the Benue State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC), Prof. Sam Egwu.
Handing over the materials at the CBN premises on Wednesday, in the presence of delegated political party agents, the Branch Controller, Mr. John Itaha, said the CBN has handed over the materials to INEC, ” it is now in their care for the successful conduct of Saturday’s election.”
Receiving the materials, the REC, Sam Egwu said, “the sensitive materials for the Presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections have been in the custody of the CBN in the last few days.
“As it is required they are handing over these sensitive materials to INEC. I am happy that we have here present the leadership of 10 political parties including the leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, (IPAC), as well as the management team of INEC in Benue State. We are doing this publicly in order to showcase the transparency of the Commission.
“I have already signed all the relevant papers which accompanied these sensitive materials which marks the official handover to us.”
The REC who explained that the Commission would start moving the materials to the various LGAs from Thursday stated that the Commission had already commenced the distribution of the configured BIVAS machines which would also be done with by Thursday.
Prof. Egwu said the Commission would be engaging over 20,000 ad-hoc staff for the smooth conduct of the coming polls in the state.
One of the observers and acting State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Isaac Mffo commended INEC and the CBN for handling the materials in a transparent manner.
He also stated that INEC’s initiative of marking the ballot papers with names of the various LGAs was commendable saying it will eliminate the issue of wrong movements of materials meant for a LGA to another.
The Organising Secretary of All Progressives Congress, (APC), Mr. James Ornguga also expressed satisfaction with the handover process confirming that the materials are intact during the handover.
