INEC Distributes Electoral Materials In Kano Ahead Of LG Polls

The Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) says it has concluded the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials to its offices in the 44 LGAs.

Chairman of the Commission, Professor Garba Ibrahim Sheka, confirmed this to Channels Television on Friday in Kano, ahead of the local government elections on Saturday.

He said this would facilitate the commencement of the voting process on time and enable them to deal with any shortage of election materials on time.

“We engaged political parties, Civil Society Organisations, elections observer groups and other stakeholders in the distribution exercise to ensure close monitoring and to guard against diversion of materials.

“We have also distributed facemasks and sanitisers to the polling units in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.

“Voting will commence by 8:00 a.m. and close by 3:00 p.m,” Professor Sheka said.

According to him, the Commission is working in collaboration with the police and security agencies to ensure peaceful conduct of the election.

To further facilitate this, he noted that the Commission has recruited 48,000 ad-hoc staff for the council poll in the state.

Garba-Sheka said the Commission had deployed its staff to the 11,500 polling points in the 484 wards across 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state for the election.

He explained that four members of staff were deployed to each of the 11,500 polling units, to facilitate smooth conduct of the poll.

“We have trained electoral officers and ad hoc staff to enable them to discharge their duties effectively,” he said.

Commenting further, the Chairman said 12 political parties were vying for the 44 chairmanship and 384 councillorship positions in the election.

Garba-Sheka maintained that no political party has so far indicated an interest in boycotting the election.

While reiterating commitment to a free, fair and credible election, the Chairman urged the voters to cooperate with election workers, observe social distancing and conduct themselves in an orderly manner during the election.