Ondo State REC Barr. Babalola Confirms INEC’s Readiness for Seamless, Credible Electoral process.
Oru Leonard
Ondo State is gearing up for its highly anticipated governorship election tomorrow, November 16, 2024. The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oluwatoyin Babalola, has confirmed that everything is in place for a seamless and credible process.
Babalola made the disclosure during and interview with some Journalist on Friday at the INEC State Headquarters in Akure.
How Prepared
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deployed 4,002 Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems (BVAS) across the state, with no reported issues. Additionally, ad-hoc staff, including Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs), Presiding Officers, and Assistant Presiding Officers, have been recruited and posted to their respective fields.
Security Measures in Place
To ensure the safety and security of voters, over 30,000 security personnel will be deployed across the state. These personnel have undergone training on professionalism, commitment, and INEC’s processes . The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) are also collaborating with INEC to prevent vote buying and selling.
Voter Awareness and Education
INEC has conducted extensive voter awareness and education campaigns through multiple channels to inform citizens about the electoral process ¹. The commission encourages all registered voters to exercise their franchise and promises a free, fair, credible, transparent, and inclusive election.
Technical Preparations
Results from the BVAS will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real-time. In areas with network issues, officials will relocate to nearby areas to facilitate uploading . With these measures in place, Ondo State is poised for a successful governorship election.
“My assurance for Ondo State Electorates is that materials will be at the polling units on time. The polling units will open on time. They should come out en masse. All people that are registered voters should exercise their franchise. They should come out on time and vote. We promise them this election will be free. It will be fair. It will be credible. It will be transparent. And it will be inclusive.
“Yes, we are ready. They are going to upload all the BVAS that will be used. It will be used to upload the results, EC8A, onto the IReV. And what we intend to do, you know, they will upload from their polling units”, The REC asaured.
She then advised, “If there is no network where you are, all you need to do is to move to the next place.”
