The Zamfara State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Saidu Babura Ahmad, assured safety of the sensitive election materials so far distributed across all the local government areas of the state.
He explained that before the postponement of the election by INEC, which was scheduled to hold on Saturday March 11, 2023 to the 18th of March, 2023, that the commission had already distributed all the sensitive election materials to the 14 local government distribution centers.
Prof. Ahmad who made the explanation while briefing Journalists in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, however, noted that all the political party agents, local and international observers, security agencies, members of the media and other relevant stakeholders witnessed the distribution of the election materials.
“Yesterday Wednesday 8th of March, 2023, we started the process of transporting sensitive materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Zamfara State branch. We were able to distribute the materials to the 14 local government area of the state.
“All the political party agents, local and international observers, security agencies, members of the media, and other relevant stakeholders witnessed the distribution of the materials. They all took records of everything.
“I had a report yesterday night that all the materials got to the various destinations safe”, he said.
He added that all the political party agents and the security agencies, comprises of the Police, the Military, the NSCDC are being stationed in all the centers to ensure that the materials are safeguarded.
He equally maintained that the Electoral Officers (EOs) together with all the political party agents were instructed to take record number of the materials available to them in their respective centers.
“We instructed all EOs together with all the party agents to take record number of the materials available to them.
“Agents of all political parties, security agencies comprises of the police, the military, the NSCDC have being stationed to safeguard all the election materials”, he said.
Similarly, the commission also held a crucial meeting with head of security agencies in Zamfara State, headed by the Commissioner of Police, which he avarred that the purpose of the meeting was to review the previous presidential and the forthcoming gubernatorial elections.
“We had a meeting today with the heads of the security agencies, headed by the Commissioner of Police. The meeting was for the purpose of reviewing our successes and the hitches we had during the presidential election.
“We also looked at the areas we can build upon to ensure that the Governorship election is successful”, he added.
The Resident Commissioner also called on the people of Zamfara State to remain calm that the Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold across the state as rescheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission. He equally assured voters that their votes will count.
