AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Dr. Rahmon Adeniran Tella, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo State, has said that logistics are in place to ensure the success of the coming elections.
Tella spoke during the Special Guest programme organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oyo State, Ibadan.
In company with Tella on the occasion are other INEC scribes, including Mrs Rosemary Adeniyi and Mr Olayiwola Awolowo and Mr. Femi Akinbiyi.
The REC said that the Commission was fully mobilised for a hitch-free election, stressing that the Central Bank of Nigeria had disbursed funds to cater for elections logistics as well as payment to its ad hoc staff.
He said, “With regard to the cash availability for our ad-hoc staff and transportation of electoral materials, the Commission has made provision to that effect.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria made cash available. All our staff, including the NYSC members, will be paid in cash. They are all going to receive their money before the exercise.”
He added that INEC partnered with the security agencies to ensure peace in the violence-prone local government councils.
He said, “We have been reviewing and addressing the issue of security in a dynamic way as it has manifested in Oyo State. We have succeeded in identifying some local governments that are mostly prone to violence during elections.
“We have put up series of strategies and this has now formed part of the security strategies we are going to employ to monitor such flashpoints during the election.
“Both sensitive and nonsensitive materials to be used on Saturday have arrived in the state and already distributed to our local governments. For the sensitive materials, because of the security threat, we do not normally distribute them until Friday, the eve of the election.
“We will do this at the instance of the media; at the instance of the security agencies; and at the instance of the party agents at the designated areas.”
Tella put the number of registered voters in Oyo State at 3,276,675 and the polling units in the state at 6,390. Out of this number, he said that a total of 2,305,903 persons collected their Permanent Voter Cards while the uncollected PVCs are totalled 760,766.
The Chairman of the Correspondent’s Chapel, , Adebayo Raji, assured the REC and his team of quality partnership with the Commission.
