The Independent National Electoral Commission chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, has called on INEC staff to demonstrate the highest level of patriotism and professionalism during Saturday’s off-cycle governorship elections, reminding them that the electoral body is not a political party and does not have a horse in the race.

In his message on Thursday in Abuja, Mr Yakubu said the choice of who becomes the governor of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi would be entirely in the hands of voters.

“As we approach the election day, I wish to call on our officials, both regular and ad hoc, to demonstrate the highest level of patriotism and professionalism,” said Mr Yakubu. “As I said repeatedly, not least during my recent readiness assessment visits to the three states, INEC is not a political party and we have no candidate in the election.”

The INEC chair added, “Our responsibility is to safeguard the process and ensure a level playing field for all political parties and candidates. The choice of who becomes the governor of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi is entirely in the hands of voters.”

Mr Yakubu said INEC had delivered all sensitive and non-sensitive materials for the elections, adding that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) had been configured for deployment to polling units and remained the only means of voter verification and authentication.

He added that polling unit results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

“All election duty officials have been trained. Arrangements have been made for land and maritime transportation to enable us to commence voting on schedule,” the INEC chief noted. 

The INEC chair noted that despite “the extremely difficult terrain and physical infrastructure in some locations, we are determined to ensure that our officials are there waiting for voters rather than the voters waiting for our arrival.”

Mr Yakubu disclosed that two national commissioners, nine resident electoral commissioners and administrative secretaries, and additional staff from different states have been deployed to each of the three states to support the process.

The INEC chairman said the officials would be deployed across the senatorial zones in the three states. 

(NAN)