The Independent National Electoral Commission said two million registered voters are expected to vote in the Saturday off-cycle governorship election in Kogi.
The election will hold in 3,508 poling units, spread across the 21 Local Government Areas, LGAs, of the state.
The LGAs included Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ankpa, Bassa, Dekina, Ibaji, Idah, Igalamela/Odolu, Ijumu, Kabba-Bunu, Kogi, Lokoja, Mopamuro, Ofu, Ogori-Magongo, Okene, Okehi, Olamaboro, Omala, Yagba-East, and Yagba-West.
Speaking on preparations for the election, Dr Gabriel Longpet, the state Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, said that the commission was 100 per cent ready.
Mr Longpet said that the commission had recruited over 15,000 ad hoc staff to help it in the smooth conduct of the poll.
“We have 3,508 polling units and each of these units will be manned by four ad hoc staff aside the security personnel that will be around to ensure peaceful conduct of the election.
“We shall deploy more staff and BVAS in densely populated polling units to complement those we are going to use.
“To be precise, we are going to use more than 900 back-up BVAS.
“This is because some polling units have more than 1,000 to 2,000 registered voters, and we have to split the number by creating more voting points for easy voting.
“This become imperative as we don’t want to give room for anything that will delay the process.
“As soon as there is a report of any BVAS failure or challenge, we shall provide another one and configure it to that polling unit for smooth continuation of voting,” he said.
Mr Longpet said that the BVAS had been deployed to the 21 local government areas of the state in readiness for the election.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner of Police, Bethrand Onuoha, said over 40,000 policemen would be deployed across the state to ensure peaceful conduct of the election.
Mr Onuoha said that the planned deployment of large number of personnel was due the past experiences in the state, where violence was recorded during elections.
“As it is, we have marked out some security flash points for more vigilance even though recent happenings signaled to us that the whole Kogi is a flashpoints.
“From the number of security personnel we are deploying for this election, it’s an enough testimony to tell you that the state needs more security checks.
“With the presence of adequate security personnel in Kogi, we are calling on every body to come out and exercise his or her civic right in the Saturday governorship election.
“We are going to swam the state with enough security personnel and by the special grace of God, with our actions and sanctions, we are going to confound our detractors,” he said.
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