Electoral commission recruits 48,000 ad hoc staff for Kano LG poll

Election
By Rabiu Sani-Ali
Kano, Jan. 15, 2021 (NAN) The Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC), has recruited 48,000 ad hoc staff for Saturday’s local government councils election in the state.
Prof. Ibrahim Garba-Sheka, Chairman of the Commission, said this at a news conference on Friday in Kano.
Garba-Sheka said the Commission had deployed its staff to the 11,500 polling points in the 484 wards across 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs)of the state for the election.
He explained that four members of staff were deployed to each of the 11,500 polling units, to facilitate smooth conduct of the poll.
“We have trained electoral officers and ad hoc staff to enable them to discharge their duties effectively,” he said.
Garba-Sheka said the Commission had so far distributed sensitive and non sensitive election materials to its offices in the 44 LGAs.
The measure, he said, would facilitate commencement of the voting process on time and deal with shortage of election materials.
“We engaged political parties, Civil Society Organisations, elections observer groups and other stakeholders in the distribution exercise to ensure close monitoring and to guard against diversion of materials.
“We have also distributed facemasks and sanitisers to the polling units in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.
“Voting will commence by 8:00 a.m. and close by 3:00 p.m.,” he said.
According to him, the Commission is working in collaboration with the police and security agencies to ensure peaceful conduct of the election.
Commenting further, the Chairman said 12 political parties were vying for the 44 chairmanship and 384 councillorship positions in the election.
Graba-Sheka maintained that no political party has so far indicated interest in boycotting the election.
While reiterating commitment to free, fair and credible election, the Chairman urged the voters to cooperate with election workers, observe social distancing and conduct themselves in an orderly manner during the election. (NAN)

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