Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commenced the transportation of sensitive election material to polling units across the country on Wednesday, and expects to complete the process by Thursday.
The authority announced the development in a press briefing held in Abuja, just three days away from the presidential election.
“I briefed you yesterday that having moved the sensitive materials to the 36 States and the FCT, the forward deployment to the 774 LGAs nationwide will commence today Wednesday 20th February 2019 & be concluded tomorrow 21st February 2019,” INEC chairperson Mahmood Yakubu said.
6. Similarly, I briefed you yesterday that having moved the sensitive materials to the 36 States and the FCT, the forward deployment to the 774 LGAs nationwide will commence today Wednesday 20thFebruary 2019 & be concluded tomorrow 21st February 2019.#NigeriaDecides2019
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) February 20, 2019
Yakubu also revealed that INEC had fully configured the election Smart Card Readers (SCR) which will be used to identify voters across the polling stations.
“I am pleased to report that we have now achieved 100% completion of the configuration. We are good to go on this score,” he said.
Nigeria’s presidential election was initially scheduled for February 16, but INEC pushed it forward to February 23, citing operational and logistical challenges.
Over 84 million Nigerians are registered to vote in the election, and they will have to chose from a pool of 73 candidates eyeing the top job.
Pollsters however project a tight race between current President Muhammadu Buhari and a former vice president Atiku Abubakar.
Both candidates called for calm from their supporters following the postponement of the election, urging them not to give up hope in exercising their civic duty come February 23.
