By; ADAMA JOHN, Lokoja
The Kogi State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Hale Longpet on Tuesday, said that the electoral body in the state is fully prepared for elections into the various political offices stated to begin on Saturday February 25.
Already the electoral umpire assured the state that it has deployed 3,508 Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, (BVAS) for the Presidential, the national bi-cameral legislature and State House of Assembly elections in Kogi State.
Although the Resident Electoral Commissioner asserted that the Commission in Kogi State has a total of 1.9 million expected voters during the February 25 election only 1.6 million who collected their Permanent Voters Cards are expected to exercise their franchise during the elections.
Dr. Longpet who acknowledged that there were some BVAS that malfunctioned during the INEC mock exercise in the state, told journalists in Lokoja that those malfunctioned ones have been replaced as INEC has many backups incase of any eventuality.
He said INEC has sent materials to all Local Government Areas adding that, they have inspected the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the materials sent to Kogi State.
He said the materials sent to Kogi were for the Presidential, Senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections excluding gubernatorial election.
Although he stressed the need for adequate security during the exercise which is key and which he guaranteed the voters during the exercise, he stressed that the issue of security is the function of the ubiquitous security agents that have been assigned to provide security to the voters.
Longpet noted, that the commission has had incidents where some political parties were denied from holding their rallies or had their billboards destroyed in the state, security agencies, he said, have been informed of the ugly developments that pervaded the state.
The INEC REC hinted that, all security agencies have given the Commission assurance that all voters including their staff will be save before, during and after the election.
He said that there will be restriction of movements on election day, adding that, INEC is fully committed to a transparent, free and fair election.Ends.
