We Are Ready For Presidential Elections, Says Oyo REC

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo State, Rufus Akeju, on Tuesday, expressed confidence that INEC was ready for the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Akeju spoke in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital , while receiving 40 boxes of ballot papers delivered at the INEC office by the Branch Controller of the Central Bank of Nigeria in Ibadan, Mr.Musbau Olatinwo.

Three trucks conveying the ballot papers labelled ‘presidential elections’ arrived the INEC office some minutes after 2pm on Tuesday.

The REC said the delivery of the materials showed that INEC was ready; assuring that the voting materials would be distributed to the local government areas and the polling units according to their largeness.

Akeju, however, said the ballot papers would be distributed to the polling units based on the number of persons who have obtained their Permanent Voter Cards, adding that 5 per cent of the number would be added.

According to the REC, Oyo State had received a total of 2,381,102 PVCs while 1,677,610 cards, representing 70.46 per cent have been collected by the voters. A total number of 703,492 PVCs are, however, yet to be collected as of Sunday, March 22, 2015.

The REC said releasing ballot papers to the polling units based on the figures of those who have collected their PVCs was being done to prevent rigging.

He said, “ INEC has directed that as we retrieve materials from the CBN, the RECs should distribute first to the LGs and then only to the polling units. I can assure you that we are very ready for the presidential elections and all electoral officers would account for every ballot papers received. We can assure you that there will be no rigging.”

While answering question on those who had yet to obtain their PVCs, the REC further noted that if the state office gets more PVCs before the elections, eligible voters would be given theirs, irrespective of the closing date