By Amos Aar
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benue State has commenced the distribution of sensitive materials across the 23 local government areas of the state.
INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Prof. Sam Egwu, disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday shortly after taking delivery of the sensitive materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Makurdi office for the March 18th governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
He said that the materials were handed over publicly to show the transparency of the commission and called on the various political parties to cooperate with the commission to ensure a smooth exercise.
Prof. Egwu said the materials would be taken to the 23 local government areas where the commission also kept BVAS that were used in the last elections and political parties will be allowed to check the number of BVAS that were kept there and have since been reconfigured for the next elections, assuring that nobody would “leave any fairy tales that INEC is able to handover either ballot papers or BVAS to any political party”.
He added that the essence of reconfiguring the BVAS was to enable the machine to recognise the new date and time for the governorship and State Assembly elections.
“Once used for a particular election, you need to purge the BVAS to be able to use for the next elections. It is about purging and then, putting new date on the BVAS that is the whole process of configuring because BVAS are configured to time and to date”. Egwu explained.
Branch Controller, CBN, Saidu Nasir who was represented by the principal manager of the apex bank, Makurdi office, Enato Habbib, said that the electoral materials which were customised according to the local governments were kept in a safe and secure environment before handing over to the INEC.
On their part, Legal Adviser to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barr Terah Mue, and State Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr James Ornguga, all expressed satisfaction at the level of transparency by the electoral body in the state so far and sued for sustainability.
The materials were handed over in the presence of various political parties, INEC management team, election observers and newsmen who were also allowed to inspect it.
