The Independent National Electoral Commission in Osun State has said all security personnel who will be on duty during the August 15 governorship poll in the state will take an oath of neutrality.
The INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Oluwatoyin Babalola, stated this in Osogbo on Wednesday while briefing journalists on the commission’s preparation for the poll.
Babalola also said a series of trainings will be organised for the security personnel before the poll.
He added that training for Supervisory Presiding Officers who will be on duty during the poll will be held between July 31 and August 2, while training of the Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers will be held on August 9.
“We value the importance of security in elections, and you may have some security personnel who do not understand the situation.
“Somebody who worked in the 2023 general elections may no longer be here, and you have security personnel who have never participated in an election.
“We are having training for security personnel who will be involved in the election from the 13th to the 15th of July at the state level, and that of the senatorial district will come up from the 17th to the 19th of July.
“We need to also note that all security personnel are going to subscribe to the oath of neutrality.
“Our training for Supervisory Presiding Officers will commence on 31st July to 2nd of August while we train Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers on 9th of August,” the REC said.
On the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System that will be deployed for the poll, the REC said the gadgets will be deployed across all 3,763 polling units in the state for voter accreditation to ensure that only registered voters with valid Permanent Voter Cards vote on election day.
She further said, “A total of 3,763 BVAS will be deployed for the election. An additional 664 BVAS will also be set aside as backups.
“In addition to voter accreditation, the BVAS will be used to upload polling unit results directly to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) for enhanced transparency and for the public to have access to PU election results.
“All the BVAS devices are already charged, awaiting configuration, which shall be carried out close to the election. Registration Area Technical Support Staff (RATECHs) will be deployed to all RAs to offer technical assistance.”
The REC declared that the commission was ready to take advice and strategic recommendations, emphasising that the success of the election will be further enhanced with robust collaboration from all stakeholders, particularly with the media.
Babalola also announced that 80 per cent of the non-sensitive materials required for the August 15 election have been received and deployed.
“80 per cent of the non-sensitive materials have been received and deployed to local government areas, and batched into Registration Areas and polling units.
“The state office is collaborating closely with relevant security agencies to ensure their safe storage,” she said.
She said sensitive materials, including ballot papers, EC8 series result sheets, EC40G forms and BVAS devices, would be delivered to local government areas during the week of the election.
On voter registration, Babalola said the Continuous Voter Registration exercise recorded 381,817 new registrants, 50,747 transfers, 7,272 updates, 42,355 requests for replacement of lost or damaged PVCs, 14,362 reviews and 1,865 PVC collections.
She noted that the state had 1,954,800 registered voters prior to the exercise and assured that the commission would announce the commencement of PVC collection once the cards are ready.
Babalola reaffirmed INEC’s commitment to conducting a free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive governorship election.
She added that seven of the 13 scheduled activities for the election had been completed, in line with the commission’s timetable.
Voters in Osun will go to the polls on August 15 to elect a governor, with incumbent state helmsman Ademola Adeleke, seeking re-election on the platform of the Accord, being challenged by Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress, and 11 other candidates contesting the poll.