We Are Ready For Kebbi Bye Elections -INEC

From Samaila Bayo, Birnin Kebbi

The Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC) on Thursday said it was ready to conduct the bye and re- run elections slated for February 3rd in Kebbi State.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Dambo Sarkin Pawa, while briefing journalists at the INEC State Office in Birnin Kebbi said the bye elections would be conducted in Yauri-Shanga-Ngaski Federal Constituency while the court order for the re-run election in 25 polling units would be in Arewa and Dandi Local Government areas of the state.

The REC said the commission had received non-sensitive materials and had since distributed them to local officials to ensure early distribution to hard to reach areas, pointing out that adhoc staff had been trained in order to have a hitch-free elections across the affected areas.

He stated that the commission had conducted series of meetings with the security agencies, 

Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and the leadership of the 18 participating political parties in the state to strategized on how to conduct a hitch-free election in February this year.

While ruling out the possibility of election materials arriving polling units late during the exercise as witnessed in last year's elections, he said “We don’t want to envisage that. We don’t even want to listen to excuses for late arrival of materials.

 

"As I told you earlier we have received all non sensitive materials and they have since been distributed to the affected local government areas.

"The BVAS to be used for the election had been configured while results would be transmitted to the Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IREV)".

He assured that all the political parties in the elections would be treated equally. But caution politicians to always wait on INEC to announce authentic results to avoid crisis.