Tony Okafor, Awka
Ahead of the Saturday’s State House of Assembly polls in Anambra State, the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) in Anambra State has banned Point of Sale( POS) machines in polling units across the state.
Anambra 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 how highly the political party might be would be dealt with in accordance with extant laws
Agwu, gave the warning at the Independent National Electoral Commission, (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 on February 25 across the country.
She reassured that INEC 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 haved commenced across the polling units, Agwu, revealed that all issues concerning BVAS for the election, had been settled for optimal performance.
