The Niger State Independent Electoral Commission (NSIEC) says it has distributed sensitive materials to all 25 local government areas in the state for Saturday’s local government elections.

The Chairman of NSIEC, Mohammed Jibrin, disclosed this during a press conference on Thursday in Minna.

According to him, the commission has diligently followed the election timetable to this crucial stage of its preparations.

Mr Jibrin said that non-sensitive election materials had been dispatched to local government areas a week ago, adding that 10 political parties would participate in the election.

He also said that the commission had developed a five-layer process for result announcement, saying election results for chairmen would be announced at local government areas.

“We are determined to maintain the integrity of the electoral process and guarantee a level -playing field for all contestants,” he said.

He noted that the commission would work closely with security agencies to provide adequate security throughout the state before, during, and after the election.

Mr Jibrin appealed to political parties and their supporters to conduct themselves peacefully, and in accordance with the rules and regulations guiding the election process.

Also speaking, the commission’s Commissioner of Operations, Mohammed Liman, said that the sensitive materials were marked with two different colours: navy blue for local chairmanship election and red for councillorship.

Mr Liman said that the election would be conducted manually and assured that necessary measures had been put in place to ensure a free, fair, and credible election.

Mr Liman said ad-hoc staff would be deployed to the 4,950 polling units across the 274 wards and 25 local government areas.

(NAN)