OSUN 2014: Under supply of electoral materials: APC’s allegation, baseless —INEC

With less than 10 days to the conduct of August 9 governorship election in Osun, the authorities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the state, on Wednesday ,described as a ruse and baseless allegation that it was planning to under supply electoral materials to some selected communities. In a press statement issued by the Chief Public Affairs Officer (CPAO) of INEC in Osun, Mrs F. Adenike Tadese, the umpire said such allegation was not only misleading, but also laughable, considering the unshaken commitment of the electoral umpire to conduct a free and fair and most acceptable governorship poll in the state. Apparently reacting to the recent allegation by the All Progressives Congress (APC) ,that INEC had concluded plans to under supply designated communities where the party has stronghold, including Ilesa, the country home of its candidate, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, the statement stressed that “INEC wishes to assure the good people of the state that the commission will not disenfranchise eligible voters irrespective of political affiliations from exercising their franchise on August 9”. It reads in part, “this has become imperative to clear the allegation of misinformation currently in circulation to under supply electoral materials to some areas during the election”. “INEC wishes to reiterate that adequate and sufficient provisions have been put in place in terms of deployment of electoral materials to cover all the 3,010 polling units on the election day”. While assuring that the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ,was an ongoing exercise, the statement added that “those who are yet to collect their PVCs should avail themselves the opportunity of collecting it at INEC offices”, disclosing that “deadline for collection is August 4, 2014”.