AHEAD of the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it had replaced the card readers burnt in the inferno that occurred at state headquarters of the commission.
Prof Mammud Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, disclosed this in Akure, the state capital while speaking with newsmen during a three-day working visit to the state.
He stated that the visit was to have on the spot assessment of the level of preparedness for the Commission for the election.
The INEC Chairman said the Commission was ready for the conduct of a credible and acceptable poll as witnessed in Edo State last Saturday.
Yakubu said INEC had made provision for the card readers from another state and that the card readers have been configured ahead of the next month governorship election in the state.
“We have already recovered some smart card readers. We, unfortunately, lost over 5000 smart card readers to the fire incident. We have however recovered by getting a requisite number of smart card readers from neighbouring Oyo state,” he said.
“They have already been delivered to Ondo State and that have been charged and configured and ready for the election on October 10 governorship election in the state.”
The Chairman explained that he was in the state to meet with Rufus Akeju, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Ambassador and Head of Departments ahead of the October 10 governorship election.
He also said the Commission would organise an interaction session with all the stakeholders in the election including traditional rulers in the state to ensure the success of the election.
It will be recalled that a section of the state INEC office was affected by a fire outbreak, burning about 5,141 smart card readers meant for the governorship election during the inferno.
The cause of the fire incident was attributed to an electrical surge after an investigation by the state police command.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.