INEC Releases Sensitive Materials Ahead Of Tomorrow’s Ekiti Poll

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The distribution of sensi­tive election materials from the Central Bank of Nige­ria (CBN) has commenced in Ekiti State ahead of the governorship election and a series of senatorial and House of Representatives by-elections scheduled for Saturday.

Officials of the Indepen­dent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were on Thursday at the central bank office in Ado-Ekiti sorting and dispatching sensitive materials to the state’s 16 local government areas.

The venue was bustling with activity as election officials coordinated logis­tics, while security person­nel were deployed to ensure the safe movement of ma­terials.

Ekiti State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindemi, described the process as smooth and well-organised, assuring stakeholders that all materials would reach their destinations on sched­ule.

Meanwhile, INEC dis­closed that the number of registered voters in Ek­iti State increased from 987,647 in 2023 to 1,059,360 in 2026.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the National Commissioner and Chair­man of the Information and Voter Education Com­mittee, Mohammed Haru­na, said the number of Per­manent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected also rose from 958,052 in 2023 to 1,028,929 in 2026.

According to the com­mission, the figure rep­resents a PVC collection rate of 97 percent and cov­ers 97.1 percent of regis­tered voters in Ekiti State.

INEC announced the statistics after successful­ly concluding the PVC col­lection exercise ahead of tomorrow’s governorship election.

The exercise, initially scheduled to end on June 11, 2026, was extended to June 14 following consulta­tions with stakeholders at a meeting held in Ado-Ekiti.

The commission also provided an update on ap­plications for replacement PVCs in line with Section 18(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, which allows regis­tered voters to replace lost, damaged or defaced voter cards.

INEC said it received 14,406 applications for re­placement of PVCs within the stipulated period and successfully printed all the cards, most of which have already been collected by their owners.

However, the commis­sion noted that the planned option of providing down­loadable copies of lost, damaged or defaced voter cards could not be imple­mented for the Ekiti elec­tion because the required technology infrastructure is yet to be fully deployed.

“The option will be avail­able to voters in future elections, particularly the Osun State governorship election in August 2026 and the 2027 general election,” the statement said.