By Kamsi Anayo
Ahead of the Saturday’s State House of Assembly polls in Anambra state, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has banned Point of Sale (POS) machines in polling units across the state.
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Queen Elizabeth Agwu, announced the ban on Friday.
She warned the state ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Labour Party (LP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressive Congress (APC) and other political parties participating in the Saturday 18th elections in the state not to venture into any polling unit with (PoS) machines
She threatened that any party agent or supporter caught in such act, irrespective of status or association would be dealt with in accordance with extant laws
Agwu, gave the warning at the INEC Headquarters, Awka, while updating journalists on the Commission’s preparedness for the election and the ongoing distribution of sensitive material meant for the House of Assembly election across the 21 local government areas of the state.
She said the process (distribution of materials) supervised by her, was witnessed by representatives of different political parties, security agents, the media and other stakeholders.
She explained that the commission had built on the successes recorded during the presidential and National Assembly elections held of Feb. 25 across the country.
She reassured that the commission was ready to conduct free, fair and acceptable elections in the state.
She said, “It is a tradition that we normally move our materials, particularly, the sensitive materials to the local governments from the local governments to the RAC centres [and] to the polling units.
“We have 21 local governments and we have watched and distributed our materials down, most especially the ballot papers that are meant for the State Assembly elections and this has been properly and systematically outlined so that there won’t be a mix-up.
“While assuring that by 8:30am on Saturday, voting was expected to have commenced across the polling units, Agwu, revealed that all issues concerning BVAS for the election, had been settled for optimal performance.”