THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday said it would proceed with the verification of the voters calling for the recall of the senator representing Kogi west senatorial district, Dino Melaye, on Saturday.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Kogi state, Prof James Apam, who stated this at a stakeholders meeting in Lokoja, the state capital, said the commission was prepared for the exercise.

He added that INEC would remain unbiased in the conduct of the exercise.

Apam said, “The verification exercise which is the first in the line of activities to be carried out in a recall process will be done on the 28th April 2018 in 552 Polling Units in the Kogi West Senatorial District. out of 560 (since there were no petitions in Eight (8) Polling Units) while the declaration of the outcome of the exercise will be done at the lNEC Local Government Area Office in Lokoja on the 29‘“ April. 2018.

“On the appointed day, the verification shall commence at 8:00 am and end at 2:00 pm in the Polling Units in the Senatorial District provided all petitioners are in the queue by 2:00 pm. Only those who signed the petition are expected to turn up at their polling units for verification. It is also important to state that according to the constitution and the Electoral Act the petition would only be said to have been verified if at least 50 percent plus one of the signatures or thumbprints of the registered voters in the constituency are verified. For this to be done the petitioners must appear personally at their polling units for the exercise.

‘We have concluded all arrangements in line with our schedule of activities and are set for the exercise. The ad-hoc staff have been trained at the State and Local Government levels and materials procured and sent to the Registration Area Centres ready for movement to the Polling Units on the day of verification.”

Apam said the card reader would be used to verify the authenticity of any petitioners who show up for the exercise and there will be no use of manual accreditation, saying “Where card reader did not work, such places will be cancelled provided the result there will not affect the outcome of the result, but if otherwise, verification will be re-conducted there.”

He also assured that the commission in conjunction with the police had prepared adequate security measures for the exercise.