INEC Set For Rerun Polls …Distributes Sensitive Materials

The Independent National Electoral Commission, yesterday, commenced distribution of election materials to the 23 local government areas in Rivers State after receiving the sensitive materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Political party agents, who were on ground to monitor the process and the onward distribution of the materials, commended the INEC for the peaceful process.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC, Elder Aneide Ikoiwak, after inspecting the materials, said with the arrival and distribution of sensitive materials to the various local government areas, the commission was now set to conduct peaceful rerun elections in Rivers State.
Ikoiwak had on Wednesday advised political parties to send in one agent to monitor and observe the process, and warned that nobody has the right to keep any material to himself.
The REC stated that any ad-hoc staff who refuses to do what he or she is supposed to do would be punished accordingly.
He explained that the elections would be held between 8.00am and 2.00pm, and emphasised that the commission did not doctor any ad-hoc staff list as was being peddled.
According to him, ’’other political parties are not complaining because the electoral body decided to follow due process.
‘’This is the first time in Rivers State that INEC has decided to follow strictly the due process, and we shall not deviate from it. We have not taken any list from any political party or person’’, he said.
The rerun elections in the state will hold in 37 constituencies, involving the three senatorial districts, 12 federal constituencies and 22 state constituencies.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are two main political parties contesting the legislative elections in the state.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police in-charge of Operations, Sotonye Wakama accused politicians in state of hiding criminals and cultists in various hotels in the state capital with the hope to use them to cause violence during the elections on Saturday.