All presidential ballot papers delivered – INEC

An online portal weekend reported that some ballot papers meant for the initial February 14 polls were seen in London.  The report suggested that there could have been a failure from a particular company if the polls were not rescheduled to March. But spokesperson to INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu told Daily Trust on phone yesterday […]

An online portal weekend reported that some ballot papers meant for the initial February 14 polls were seen in London.

 The report suggested that there could have been a failure from a particular company if the polls were not rescheduled to March.

But spokesperson to INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu told Daily Trust on phone yesterday that “not a single presidential ballot paper was presently outside the custody of the commission.”

He said:  “There is a mischief to that story…they took pictures of consignments possibly at a time these consignment were being intended to be shipped to Nigeria, because those consignments were received on the 12th of February.

“And if they were received on the 12th of the February and you took pictures at the time they were getting ready to be delivered, I don’t understand what is intended.

“Ballot papers for the governorship election were even awaited and they were to come in by 12th, for elections that would have held on the 28. Is that too late?”

He said INEC had already received all “ballot papers from that company and I am saying that categorically.”  

Idowu also said people were no longer turning up in large numbers to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) since the period for collection had been extended.

“The level of turnout has dropped by more than 60 percent, because of the reschedule; people think there is no more tension. These are human responses,” Idowu said.

He added: “What the commission would have preferred is for people to come out now so that it would get down after the first week and second week. But if people don’t come out now, it means there would be a crowd towards the third and fourth week, which is not the best.”

The commission, he said, was not pleased with the current trend because it would invariably create another rush as the new deadline approaches. He appealed to Nigerians to come forward and collect their cards.

He said because of the low turnout, the overall figures of those who had collected their PVCs as at February10 stood at over 47.9 million or  69.6 percent.