Ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Bauchi State on Thursday commenced distribution of sensitive materials to the 20 local government areas in the state, assuring that there will be timely delivery to the areas.

Speaking during the inspection of the materials at the state secretariat of the commission, Bauchi State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mohammad Bulama Nura stated that the materials, including ballot papers, result forms, among others, were received Thursday morning from the state branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for onward distribution to the local government areas.

“As you can see from the background, we have evacuated our sensitive materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria head office to the INEC state office for distributions to 20 LGAs offices headed by our electoral officers,” Nura told journalists.

According to him, the materials would be moved to the local government areas after party representatives, election observers and security agents confirmed them.

The REC said buses had been hired by the commission to convey the materials to the local government areas, assuring that the electoral body was committed to timely delivery of the materials to their various destinations.

DAILY POST reports that there was a heavy presence of security operatives drawn from the Department of State Services (DSS); Nigeria Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Army, among others, at the INEC state office during the distribution.

Representatives of the 18 political parties participating in the 2023 general elections were also present for the inspection and distribution of the materials.

DAILY POST learnt that hard to reach areas of the state, including Zaki LGA, first departed the state headquarters of the electoral body with security escorts.