By Olajide Idowu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the commission would deploy 370 Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) in Osun for the Feb. 25 and March 11 elections.
Dr Mutiu Agboke, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in the state, made this known to newsmen on Sunday, on the sideline of the two day training organised for SPOs in Osogbo by the commission.
He said that the SPOs were selected senior staff in Federal Government establishments who would be responsible for the training and retraining of other ad hoc staff including Presiding Officers (POs) and Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs).
“The SPOs training is very important because the SPOs would be in-charge of training and retraining of our ad hoc staff, POs and APOs, at the Registration Area Centres (RACs).
“They are also responsible for the deployment of ad hoc staff to their various polling units on Election Day.
“They will organise the POs, refresh their memory, take them through the workings of the BVAS, tell them the process and procedure of the election, how to enter results and how to organise/set up at their polling units,” he said.
He reiterated the readiness of the commission to conduct the general elections, adding that the training of the SPOs is an indication that the commission was fully set to go ahead with the elections.
Earlier, while addressing the SPOs, Agboke warned them against being compromised by politicians to subvert the elections saying any of them caught sabotaging the elections for politicians would be prosecuted and jailed.
Agboke said he would take it up personally to prosecute any electoral officer or SPO found culpable in subverting election in the state.
The REC warned those that wanted to serve as SPOs in order to do the biddings of politicians to have a rethink.
He said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines remained sacrosanct for the coming elections and that many politicians were afraid of the BVAS.
He, however, stressed that, with the use of the BVAS, INEC would ensure that elections were only won on the strength of popularity and acceptability.
(NAN)
