The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom said it would deploy 10, 000 personnel for Saturday’s rerun elections in the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr Gabriel Ada, disclosed this on Thursday in Uyo while speaking with newsmen on arrangement for the exercise.
Ada explained that out of the 10, 000 personnel, 3,500 were ad hoc while the rest were INEC and security officials.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the elections would be conducted in five state constituencies for House of Assembly seats.
The constituencies are Etinan, ibesikpo/Asutan, Ikot Ekpene/Obot Akara, Oron/Udung Uko and Itu.
The rerun was ordered by Court of Appeal in Abuja, which nullified the April 11, 2015 election in the constituencies.
The REC announced that he had received sensitive materials like the ballot papers and result sheets and would send them to the registration centres after sorting.
“Right now, we have had series of meetings with stakeholders of political parties; we had three meetings.
“They have assured us that they will cooperate with INEC and security agents to make this election hitch-free; they have even gone to the extent of signing peace accord,” he said.
Ada said that the card reader would be used in the conduct of the election “to verify whether the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) belong to INEC and the holder of the card’’.
He said that accreditation and voting in the election would be done simultaneously.
Assessing the situation, Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Mr Paul Ekpo, said that he was satisfied with the process, and described it as “very transparent’’.
He appealed to members of the party to be orderly during the election and to obey all security agents.
Ekpo expressed the hope that the election would be peaceful and would be devoid of anticipated violence.
Similarly, Vice Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Mr Kufre Inyangette, said that he was satisfied with the distribution process of sensitive materials by INEC.
Inyangette said that APC was a peaceful party and all its members were expected to behave well during the election.
He appealed to “all lovers of peace and change’’ to support the party in the election.
