Ahead Gov Election: INEC Chairman Relocates To Ondo, Commissions BVAS Facility

By Ayodele Oni

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  Prof Mahmood Yakubu has assured that major lessons learnt during previous elections, especially that of Edo state, will assist in the Ondo Governorship Poll coming up next week.

Yakubu, who spoke in Akure on Monday, stated that “We have learnt a lot of lessons not only from the last election, but also previous elections.

“Basically, there are two challenges, the first one is logistics for election, so that polling units open promptly on election day.

“The second one is result management and my assurance to voters in Ondo State is that they are going to see fast improvement in these two processes.

“We have received positive reports from our state office in Akure but we decided also to come for readiness assessment.

“So, we are here basically to look at what is happening, the good work that the state office has done, we are going to meet with the stakeholders including political parties, civil society organisations, the media, security agencies and we are also going to meet with our staff to assess our readiness. We will be here for a few days.

“One of the activities we are also going to observe is the mock accreditation of voters, which will take place in 16 polling units across six Local Government Areas in the three senatorial zones of the state.

“In addition to other activities, we are also going to meet with the stakeholders on Thursday, and the following day, the National Peace Committee will also invite all the stakeholders for the signing of the National Peace Accord.

The Chairman had earlier commissioned the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ( BVAS) storage facility for the conduct of the Ondo State Governorship election.

Yakubu, who arrived Akure airport about was led to the premises of the Commission in Akure by the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Oluwatoyin Babalola.