From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
There was large turned out of voters at the supplementary election held across Kebbi State on Saturday as election officials arrived early for the Gubernatorial and National State Assemblies Election in Kebbi State.
At the polling units where supplementary election took place in Birnin Kebbi, which includes; Takalau M.P.S II,Takalau M.P.S III, and Marafa Hisbah office,accreditations and voting took place simultaneously in line with the guidelines issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as earlier as 8:30a.m. with the necessary voting materials but find large numbers of voters.
It could be recalled that, INEC had declared that, Governorship supplementary election will be held in 142 Polling Units (PUs) across 20 local government areas of Kebbi while supplementary election is on going for Kebbi North Senatorial District, two Federal Constituencies and eight State Constituencies in the state.
The INEC Presiding Officer at Marafa polling unit in Birnin Kebbi, Muhammad Bala, said when they arrived before 8:30a.m. they met voters waiting for them.
According to him,”You can see yourself that the turn out is even more impressive than the previous elections.
“People are eager and willing to fulfill their constitutional responsibility and also complete the process of electing their leaders they started in the previous elections,” he said.
He said there had not been any hitch with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS), and that the voters were behaving orderly.
At Alwasa Model Primary school in Argungu Local Government Area, voters lined up to vote.
The officials of INEC arrived at 7: 30a.m at Dankaulu polling unit in Kamba area of Dandi Local Government Area of the state where the supplementary election is ongoing as accreditation and voting commenced at 8:30a.m.
The supplementary governorship elections in Kebbi and Adamawa as well as National and State Assembly election across many states in the country are currently ongoing.
While speaking with newsmen, INEC National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education Publicity, Mr. Festus Okoye said that the commission are ready to conduct supplementary election and put an end to the recurring inconclusive in Kebbi State.
According to him,”we are conducting supplementary elections for Governorship,two federal constituency and eight house of assembly elections. We have finished distributing sensitive materials for the elections and these sensitive materials comprises of ballot papers, results sheets and BVAs for accreditation.
” We have also had a stakeholders engagement for political parties and Civil Societies. We have explained to them the redument of these election and places where these elections will take place. And they fully observed the sensitivity of these elections and the fact it is a supplementary elections that has been indicated.
“The REC has held series of engagement with security agencies and they have promised that they have the courage, resources to deploy personnel’s to all areas where these supplementary elections will take place. They have also put additional resources from neighbouring states around Kebbi State.
“On our part,the chairman of the Commission has deployed three national Commissioners to Kebbi State because of the number of elections we have in the state. Because of this,he deployed additional staff and so,most of our staff are going to serve as supervising officers,Acting as LG officer.
” We are not going to have supplementary -Supplementary elections. We are going to put an end to these elections right tomorrow and by Sunday,the people of Kebbi will know whom their Governor elect is. We are going to have conclusive election in Kebbi North Senatorial election and Conclusion into two Federal Constituency and 8 State Assembly election.
“In term of preparation, we are fully prepared for this election”, he said.