INEC chairman called on the residents/voters in the selected polling units in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states to come out en masse to participate in the mock accreditation exercise.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has slated Saturday for mock accreditation of voters in preparation for the upcoming governorship elections in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.
The governorship elections are to hold in the three states on 11 November.
INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at the state headquarters of the commission in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, during the presentation of official publication/presentation of Register of Voters to the 18 participating political parties in the upcoming governorship election in the state.
Mr Yakubu, who was represented by a National Commissioner, Sani Adam, said that the exercise would take place in only nine polling units - three from each of the three senatorial districts of the state.
The chairman announced that similar excercise would simultaneously take place in Bayelsa and Imo states.
He called on the residents/voters in the selected polling units to come out en masse to participate in the exercise, which he described as a litmus test to the real election.
According to him, the commission is well prepared for the governorship polls, and appealed to politicians and electorate to abide by the rules of the game for a peaceful, credible and successful conduct of the election.
"We have all it takes in terms of staff and logistics as well as the necessary security support by security operatives to conduct a peaceful and successful election in Kogi.
"As a commission, we expect everyone to eschew any form of violence or crisis to help usher in a leader that will pilot the affairs of the state after 26 January, for the desired growth and development," he said.
Mr Yakubu said that the publication and presentation of register of voters to the 18 political parties was imperative toward getting fillers from them on the upcoming election.
Kogi data
He said that the total number of registered voters in Kogi for the election is 1,932,654, comprising 953,941 males and 953,941 females.
"A copy of the Register of Voters in PDF will be issued to all the political parties contesting the election.
"The commission will deploy Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in all the 3,508 polling units in Kogi for the election.
"Already, we have trained technical support staff that will be deployed to all the Registration Areas (RAs) and the local Governments to provide technical support for BVAS," he said.
Responding, the state chapter of Inter-Party Advisrory Committee (IPAC) chairman, Ukwenge Musa, commended INEC for its preparations and readiness for the 11 November governorship election.
He assured the commission of the support of the participating political parties to ensure that the election was peaceful and successful.
(NAN)