14th October, 2020
By Peter Amine
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Plateau said it would deploy 6000 ad-hoc staff for the conduct of the Plateau South Senatorial by-election slated for Oct. 31.
Malam Halilu Pai, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing newsmen after an Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICES) meeting.
Pai said that the ad-hoc staff included Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs), Presiding Officers (POs), Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs), Collation Officers and a Returning Officer.
“The harvesting of the APOs is ongoing and we have opened a portal for eligible candidates to apply so that we harvest and select the qualified ones after training.
“The training of the SPOs would hold on Oct. 15 and Oct. 16 and that of the POs would take place from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21, while the collation officers would be trained from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27.
“The training this time will include training on COVID-19 protocols so that people can vote in a safe environment without spreading the Coronavirus,” he said.
He said the commission would provide face masks for its officials, while the voters were to source for theirs.
He said that in its efforts to conduct a free fair and credible elections INEC was working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to tackle vote-buying.
Mr Edward Egbuka, Plateau Commissioner of Police said the command in collaboration with other security agencies would deploy adequate security personnel to ensure the safety of the electorate, electoral materials and electoral officials.
“We have just finished an Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICES) meeting where all heads of security agencies were in attendance.
“The election is just for a senatorial zone and the number of personnel to be deployed will not be an issue.
“And I can assure you that we will be there to ensure that the electoral process runs smoothly before, during and after the election.
NAN