INEC is 87% Ready for Enugu North By-Election

The Independent National Electoral Commission says it is over 87 percent ready for the upcoming Enugu North Senatorial District by-election in Enugu State.

INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Enugu State, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, shared this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu on Wednesday.

NAN reminds us that INEC set June 20 for the by-election. The commission announced and published the notice and timetable for the election on May 21.

Chukwu mentioned that non-sensitive materials have been sorted and are ready to move to the commission’s six local government area offices that make up the senatorial district.

"We are sending the non-sensitive materials today (June 3) to our council area offices involved, and by Thursday (June 4), the non-sensitive materials will be further moved to INEC’s Registration Area Centres (RACs)," he said.

The REC also said that the commission fully configured and charged all the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices to ensure a smooth by-election.

He added that INEC has finished all important meetings with stakeholders at the state, senatorial, and six local government area levels.

Chukwu noted that these meetings saw a large turnout of stakeholders. Most asked relevant questions about the by-election, and commission officials provided answers.

He said four political parties will put forward candidates for the by-election.

The REC explained that these parties had their primary elections monitored by INEC officials. Official reports were sent to INEC’s headquarters about the exercise.

"The reason I will not mention the political parties yet is that we are waiting for our headquarters’ approval of the report written on the parties’ primaries conducted," he said.

Chukwu stated that the commission will train various levels of officials for the by-election on Friday.

He added that in the coming days, the commission will meet with the police and other security agencies. This is to ensure the safety of INEC officials, ad-hoc staff, sensitive and non-sensitive materials, and voters.