The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is prepared to conduct the Osun governorship election slated for July 16.
Prof. Abdulganiyu Raji, the Osun Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), said this on Wednesday while speaking at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Osun Correspondents’ Chapel personality interview programme: ‘Newspoint’.
He also said that if the election is shifted forward, they were fully prepared for it.
“We are fully prepared for the election. We are ready because we have received the necessary materials needed for the election except the sensitive materials which will only be made available 24 hours prior to the election,” he said.
The REC said that the procedure for the conduct of the Osun governorship election had started with the political parties in the state started conducting their primary elections.
“The constitutional provision stipulates that INEC should be part of the political parties’ primary elections as an observer, and that INEC is monitoring and observing the party primaries ahead of the election.
“The commission has also added 753 new polling units to the already existing 3,010 polling units in Osun, to ensure voting points are decongested and moved closer to the electorate in the state,’’ he said.
He decried the nonchalant demeanour of the elite class toward voting during elections, adding that about 230,000 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were yet to be collected or unclaimed in the state.
Raji said though Osun recorded the highest number of new potential voters during the INEC Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), with over 620,000 new registrants, only 250,000 out of the figure had really completed their registration.
The REC said that the CVR would continue till March in Osun and that PVCs would be produced and made available to all the registered voters four weeks after the closure of registration.
He said that it would be done both online and at the INEC office and centres.
He said that INEC would send alerts to the newly registered voters through SMS and e-mails on when their PVCs would be ready for collection.
He said that the PVC were important for the would-be voters to take part in the July 16 Osun governorship election, saying: “No PVC, No Voting”