By Barbara Bako, Abuja and Toye Faleye
Professor Yakubu Mahmood, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has again reassured Nigerians of thecommission’s determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections rescheduled to hold on Saturday, February 23.
Addressing a press briefing today, Mahmood also disclosed that so far98% reconfiguration of 180,000 Smart Card Readers has been achieved.
“There are roughly 180,000 SCRs to be deployed for the elections and the ICT team said that they would require between five to six days tocomplete the reconfiguration. I am glad to say that as at today, about 98% of the SCRs have been reconfigured and we are confident that by tomorrow all would be ready which is a day earlier than scheduled,“said Mahmood.
He spoke further, promising to keep Nigerians abreast of happeningson preparation for the election on a daily basis, disclosing that it would schedule a press briefing for tomorrow.
He warned politicians to desist from speaking in manners that will overheat the polity.
Meanwhile, he expressed that the Information Communication Technology team of INEC had required for more time to reconfigure the Smart Card Readers (SRCs) for the elections.
He said, “The Smart Card Readers are configured to only open for use at 8am on election day and to automatically shut down by 10 pm. This is designed to forestall any illegal use of the SCRs before the appointed time of elections.”
He therefore presented the levels of implementation for 2019 general elections to include the following:
That all issues relating to delivery of the materials were identified and virtually addressed and that ballot papers, result sheets and a host of non-sensitive materials are now in location across the 37 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He said that today the INEC state offices commenced and ended the process of inviting stakeholders to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)to examine the retrieved materials deployed last week and to witness the batching of materials according to Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Mahmood said the movement of materials to LGAs for batching according to wards and polling units would take place on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21, February 2019.
According to him, all Registration Area Centres (RACs) are to be activated by 9.00am on Friday, February 22 while personnel and materials would be at the MC by mid-day on Friday February 22
He disclosed that refresher training for ad–hoc personnel would take place Friday, February 22, expressing that personnel and materials must arrive at the polling units latest 7am on Saturday, February 23 while
According to INEC Boss, “Preparations for Governorship, State Assembly and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections are well underway.
“Already, the sensitive materials for the elections have started arriving at various locations for onward movement to various CBN branches across the country.
“Indeed, some of these materials, arriving through our airports, have been erroneously construed by some people as materials for the elections holding this weekend.
“I want to reassure you all that all materials for the rescheduled Presidential and National Assembly elections next Saturday are already in the states ready for deployment to LGAs, ward and polling Units.
“We have learnt a lesson from the preparations for the elections holding this weekend. For this reason, we shall start the movement of materials for the next elections early to ensure that nothing disrupts our process.”
INEC had earlier briefed stakeholders on the commission’s preparation for the elections that has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 23.
It had as well lifted embargo placed on political campaigns ahead of Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections following its rescheduling of both elections.
The embargo lifted from the ban on campaign activities means that political parties are free to campaign until midnight Thursday, February 21.
In his address earlier to the stakeholders, it will be recalled that INEC boss had said the commission intended to reschedule the election for 24 hours instead of three hours initially scheduled, saying the decision was to enable the commission deliver the final batch of sensitive materials for the elections.
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