Obinna Odogwu, Abakaliki
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State have passed a vote of confidence in the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state.
The two leading political parties said that they were satisfied with the high level of transparency with which the electoral body was managing the sensitive and non-sensitive election materials meant for Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
The duo spoke at the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the state where the election materials were being sorted and arranged according to the local governments in the state.
The monitoring agent for the PDP, Chief Ali Odefa, said that the management of the electoral body had shown clear commitment that it would conduct free, fair, and credible elections in the state.
Odefa said: “I have been here for about five or six days now. Even though the system is quite analogue, but so far INEC in Ebonyi State has been very impeccable. Everything is transparent. We go to the vault with them when they want to pick materials.
“We pick the materials and sit down all day watching them sort the materials local government by local government. So far, we believe strongly that INEC in Ebonyi State is non-partisan. They have been very fair to all; doing things the way they should be done.
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“All the materials that came here have been properly sealed. In fact, the management of INEC in Ebonyi State has shown commitment to sincerity in the conduct of this election. As a matter of fact, before any box is opened, they normally insist that all the party agents must be here before they are opened.
“As a matter of fact, we are now like their bosses. If we are not around, they don’t do any work. I am deeply impressed with the way they have been carrying on,” said Odefa.
Odefa’s counterpart in the APC, Chief Edwin Oke, corroborated him, saying that INEC was transparent and there was no suspicion of foul play whatsoever.
Oke said: “I can say that this is the best preparation so far because INEC has done what it is supposed to do. I am not suspecting any foul play at all.”
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Prof. Godswill Obioma, while briefing newsmen on the level of preparedness at the INEC’s state headquarters in Abakaliki, said that they were ready for the elections.
He said that already, a total of 3,288 smart card readers had been reconfigured, charged, and parked per local government in readiness for the polls.
He also said that the commission had batched all materials in the CBN in the presence of the political party agents according to local governments. He said that the Registration Area Camps (RACs) earlier activated before the polls were rescheduled had been rechecked and the right things are done.
He said that the batched materials which would be accompanied by the party agents at the local government level to their various destinations under tight security.
At the CBN, the REC said: “What we are doing now is to take from Central Bank of Nigeria, the presidential and National Assembly election materials: ballot papers, result sheets, and all other sensitive materials in the presence of party agents at the state level and security and our electoral officials to ensure that what we get from the CBN on Saturday morning are intact.
“Yesterday we checked the House of Representatives (materials). Today we are checking the presidential. In the event of any shortages, we will inform our headquarters immediately to replenish them but I want to say that we don’t have reported shortages yet to the number we cannot handle.
“Our target is to beat the national timeline by one. We are expected to complete this today. With all this batching, by midday today, we are done. By Friday we will activate our RACs and then we move to the RACs,” he added.