The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Oyo State disclosed on Tuesday that it has received about 90 per cent of non-sensitive materials needed for the conduct of the 2019 general elections.
Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mutiu Agboke disclosed this at a press conference in Ibadan. Agboke further said, “about 90 per cent non-sensitive materials have been received at the state level. We have received voting cubicles, generating sets and other materials and these are already being deployed to local government INEC offices. Ballot for the presidential/ governorship election will be in red, senatorial/house of Assembly has black, while House of Representatives is to be green ballot boxes respectively.
“It is expected that, sensitive materials will be coming in as from next week and party agents together with journalists will also be invited to witness the distribution of these materials” he added.
The elections are billed to take place on Saturday 16th February and Saturday 2nd March in the country.
He also disclosed that collation centre building for the coming elections is presently being constructed at the state office and should be ready for use before the commencement of the general election.
He however, lamented that 846,417 uncollected permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) are still in the custody of INEC.
“We have been able to receive a total number of 2,962,646 PVCs from 2015 till date. Out of this figure, 2,116,229 PVCs have so far been collected.
“However, we still have a total number of 846,417 PVCs left uncollected. In Oyo State, we have a total number of 2,934,107 registered voters. Since the use of PVCs and smart card readers (SCRs) remain the game changer in the coming election, the commission has a total figure of 7,336 SCRs available out of which 6,390 SCRs will be required to take care of 6,390 polling units in Oyo state.
He added that the last day for the collection of the PVCs remains Friday, 8th February, after which the remaining PVCs would be taken to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for proper keeping.
“We are going to recall all these PVCs, we are going to keep them in the CBN after the collection day has lapsed”.
Agboke who declared that the commission was ready for the conduct of the elections, maintained that personnel needed for the elections have been trained.
He said, “We have been able to train security personnel at both state and senatorial district levels. Recruitment and training of 351 SPOs while 28,352 APOs have been concluded. Collation officers and returning officers’ training are to begin very soon. Oath forms are to be administered to all these categories of ad hock staff expected to participate in the coming elections.
“There are 58 political parties with presence in this state. Oyo South Senatorial district has 21 candidates, Oyo Central has 21 candidates while Oyo North has a total number of 18 candidates, making a total number of 60 candidates jostling for the three senatorial seats. There are seven females contesting for senatorial posts in all. In all, there are 26 female contestants out of 202 candidates for the 14 federal constituencies of the state. There are 654 candidates with 49 political parties contesting for the 32 state constituencies.
“Let me conclude by re-emphasising on some innovations put in place by the commission for the smooth conduct of this general elections. The use of enhanced SCRs, using PVCs as tool to vote, the prohibition of the use of mobile phones within the perimeter of the voting cubicle to avoid vote buying”
