Ahead of Saturday’s presidential election, security has been beefed up at the Lagos State Office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to agency reports, as part of the security measures, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) were positioned at the entrance of the commission’s office.
Our correspondent, who monitored activities at the INEC’s office, reports that there was presence of security personnel in the area.
Some soldiers and mobile police personnel were also seen within the area apparently to provide protection for electoral officers and materials.
Also, staff of the commission were seen busy sorting and packaging non-sensitive electoral materials for distribution to different parts of the state.
INEC vehicles were also seen loading and moving materials to the commission’s local government offices across the state.
Meanwhile, Mr Femi Akinbiyi, the state’s Head of Public Affairs, said that the commission had distributed 3. 8 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to registered voters in the state.
Akinbiyi said that the figure represented 69 per cent of the total registered voters.
“We have distributed 3, 847, 491 PVCs in Lagos as at the end of last week.
“This represent 69 per cent of the total registered voters in the state,’’ the spokesman said.
According to him, many registered voters failed to come for their cards in spite of all the commission’s efforts.
On cards yet to be collected by their owners, the spokesman said that the state was waiting for directive on the next step of action from its headquarters in Abuja.
Akinbiyi, however, reiterated the commitment of the commission to ensuring free, fair and acceptable elections on March 28 and April 11.