We’re fully prepared for guber polls, says Kogi REC

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kogi state, Alhaji Hussaini Halilu Pai, said the Commission was fully prepared for the November 21 governorship elections in the state.
Speaking in a telephone interview with our reporter yesterday, Pai said all necessary arrangements have been put in place by the Commission to create a level playing ground for all political parties in the elections.
 He said there was no going back on the use of the INEC smart card readers, saying over 2000 smart card readers fully charged would serve as backup during the forthcoming elections in the state.
 The INEC REC noted that the smart card reader has really addressed the situation where rigging, manipulation, ballot box snatching and other forms of electoral malpractice were the order of the day.
 “And that is why we gave the corps members five weeks training instead of just the three days training before the election so that they too will need to master the use of the smart card readers. So as far as we are concerned in INEC, we are not actually having any fear at all, as we are fully ready for the November 21 governorship election in Kogi state, ‘’ he explained.
 He also said arrangement has been put in place to give out extra card readers as a back-up across all the polling units in case there is a breakdown of any of the card readers.
 “We already have technicians in each of the wards who will be going round the polling units to fix problems of card readers failure, even as another card reader would be substituted. INEC has more than 2000 extra card readers that will serve as back-up,” he explained.