INEC Distributes Sensitive Materials for Akure North/South By-election

Fidelis David in Akure

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday distributed sensitive materials ahead of next Saturday’s Akure North/South federal constituency by-election in Ondo State.

The seat became vacant following the death of Adedayo Omolafe, popularly known as Expensive, in August 2021.

The materials were distributed at the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) amid tight security, and the ceremony was witnessed by representatives of the civil society organisations (CSOs), election observers, political parties, security agencies and journalists.

According to the INEC Commissioner in the Southwest, Prof Kunle Ajayi, the exercise was to ensure smooth conduct of the election, noting that non-sensitive

materials had earlier been distributed, and that the commission was ready for a free and fair election.

This is coming six days after the INEC said seven political parties have been cleared to participate in the by-election.

The Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Rufus Akeju, listed the political parties to include Accord Party (AP), African Democratic Party (ADP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Peoples Party (APP), National Redemption Movement (NRM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Akeju explained that the new eligible voters who got registered in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in June 2021 till date would not be able to vote during the bye-election because data from the exercise has not been upgraded.

He added that the Biometric Voter Authentication System (BVAS) would be deployed for the bye-election and that results from the polling units would be transmitted to the results viewing portal in real-time, adding that the election would hold in 408 polling units, and listed registered voters in the Akure federal constituency to be 365,088.