The Plateau State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mallam Halilu Husseini Pai, has expressed regrets that despite high level of preparedness of citizens for Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections, the commission could not go on with the election as scheduled.
The Commissioner said the commission is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that the rescheduled elections are carried out smoothly next Saturday.
Pai, who disclosed this on Saturday while answering questions from newsmen after an inter-agencies security meeting, said the meeting was to solicit their intervention towards ensuring that the sensitive materials already despatched do not get into the wrong hands.
He said: “Of course, the postponement has financial Implications, but I can not tell you how much it has caused the Commission now.
“But our meeting here is to solicit the cooperation of the security agencies in the state to ensure the security of the materials already distributed to the local government in the state are protected.
“I am assuring Nigerians that the commission is ready for the conduct of the election next week.”
Also speaking, the state Commissioner of Police, Isaac Olutayo Akinmoyede, said the command has been briefed on what led to the postponement of the election.
Akinmoyede said it was due to late arrival of materials.
He said the Command has scheduled series of meetings with chairmen of local governments in the state and all Civil Society Organizations as well as chairmen of various political parties to chart a way forward to ensure that the already distributed materials are safe.