Sensitive election materials have arrived in Osogbo ahead of Saturday’s Osun State governorship election, as the Independent National Electoral Commission said it would draw ad-hoc personnel from a pool of more than 30,000 members of the National Youth Service Corps.
The development came as security agencies stepped up preparations for the poll, with no fewer than 25,310 personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission deployed across the state.
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Adedayo Oketola, disclosed the commission’s planned deployment of NYSC members in a conversation with The PUNCH on Monday while giving an update on preparations for the August 15 election.
Oketola, however, said he could not provide the exact number of ad-hoc personnel to be engaged, adding that the commission would draw from a pool of more than 30,000 NYSC members for the poll.
“For number of ad-hoc staff, INEC will be pulling from a pool of over 30,000 NYSC members that we’re working with for the election,” he said.
He also disclosed that 2,339,233 voters were registered in Osun State but said he did not have the latest figure for voters who had collected their Permanent Voter Cards following the extension of the PVC collection exercise.
“Meanwhile, 2,339,233 voters are registered in Osun. So, I’m not sure, you know, we extended PVC collection. I don’t have the data of the number of PVC collected, you know, but for eligible voters, these are the people who are eligible to vote, 2,339,233,” he said.
On the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, Oketola said the materials were already in the state, assuring that deployment to local government areas and Registration Area Centres will begin on Thursday.
While explaining the commission’s logistics arrangements ahead of the election, Oketola said the commission would not disclose when the sensitive materials arrived in Osun for security reasons, stressing that they were already warehoused at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“Right now, sensitive materials are already in Osun. Nobody will tell you when materials arrived Osun. What is most important is that they have arrived. You see, logistics is complex,” he stated.
He said the sensitive materials, including ballot papers, would be moved from the CBN to the local government offices on Friday, in line with the commission’s standard procedure.
“Well, that is the standard, by Thursday we start moving non-sensitive and I mean the remaining non-sensitive materials. The sensitive materials that are ballot papers and all of that will be moved on Friday from the CBN to the local government offices,” he said.
“The police, security agents, electoral officers will be invited to the CBN where sensitive materials such as ballot papers and BVAs will be distributed and moved to the local government offices.
“So, by Friday, RAC centres will open, sensitive materials will move to the RACs and non-sensitive materials will also be moved, including ad hoc staff and security agents. This is including all the vehicles that will move them on election day.”
