Kogi State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor James Apam, in this interview by YEKINI JIMOH, speaks on the preparations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the governorship election Kogi West senatorial bye-election coming up in the state on November 16.
HOW prepared is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead for the November 16 governorship election in Kogi State?
We are getting prepared stage-by-stage and we have already done a lot of things. We have trained our staff and we have also started the training of our ad-hoc staff that will conduct the election. For the governorship election we require about 16,000 ad-hoc staff. We have presiding officers (POs), assistant presiding officers (APOs) and collation officers (COs). We have also received non sensitive materials which we have distributed to the 21 local government areas of the state for onward distribution to all the 239 wards in the state.
Two elections will be conducted same day, what is your level of preparedness?
The situation was foisted on us because initially, we were only preparing for the governorship election until when an Appeal Court judgment ordered for a senatorial fresh election in Kogi West senatorial district. In order to save cost and time, the commission decided to conduct the two elections the same day. All we needed to do now is to bring additional ballot boxes as well as ballot papers because we will use the same staff, use the preparations we have already made. I think it is cheaper for us and, apart the two elections, there is no any other one in Kogi State.
What security arrangement has been made, especially at the grassroots where the majority of the people of the state reside?
We have heard several promises from the security agencies, especially from the Nigeria Police, to provide adequate security of lives and property for all the stakeholders that will be involved in the election. They have told us time without number that there is going to be reinforcement from other states to add to what they have in Kogi State in order to ensure adequate security in all parts of the state during the election.
In addition to the security arrangements, we have been holding meetings with the law enforcement agencies through what we call the Electoral Violence Management Advocacy Tools (EVMAT). Through that, we let them know what we feel and, as we speak with the people, we get to know their own perception of security. We prepare a report and send to the police, hoping that they will add to their intelligence so that they can prepare adequately, especially for the hot spots.
What are the arrangements made to reach out to the remote communities, especially in the eastern parts of the state in the course of the election?
We have prepared for both land and water and we will budget for hiring of boats where necessary and for some communities where vehicles cannot reach, we will make provision for motorcycles so that our staff can reach there. We are also hoping that places like Ibaji, where water has taken over that the water would have receded before the election so that we can reach everywhere in the local government area.
What will you do to tackle vote-buying during election?
We have really received several complaints of vote buying and selling during elections. We have sensitised the electorate on the effect of such acts in different fora and we will continue to hammer on that so that the perpetrators will desist from such acts.
What is the level of collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) the state as the elections draw nearer?
First of all, we have 1, 646, 350 voters in Kogi State and before we started issuing the last voter card, we had 170, 900 uncollected PVCs. After one week, we were only able to issued 10, 636 cards; we still have a balance of over 160, 000 uncollected and which we have taken back to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for safe keeping.
How many governorship candidates will participate in the election?
In all, the candidates are 23 and there is only one female among them.
What is your advice to Kogi people as they are go into election?
We are appealing to them to remain peaceful and lawful and that they should turn out enmass to cast their votes for the candidate of their choice.