Voters in the Ondo state have been told by the Presidential Task Force that they might not be given a chance to vote in the state’s forthcoming governorship election if they turn up without putting on face mask.
The National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr. Sani Aliyu said this during the task force’s recent media briefing in Abuja. He said voters, candidates and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be follow the anti-COVID-19 guidelines issued for elections as Nigeria cannot afford going through another wave of Coronavirus infection.
Apart from revealing that the materials that will to be used for the election, Aliyu revealed further that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) would be provided for electoral officers.
He said: “As we all know, we will hold the governorship election across 18 local governments. We are expecting about 1.5 million eligible people to vote in 3,000 polling units across the state.
“This is clearly a huge exercise. It’s a huge exercise that will also come with risks. Therefore, in order to protect the voters, election officials and candidates in the electoral process, we urge everyone to comply with the INEC guidelines.
“Face masks are mandatory across the polling units. No face mask, no voting. Physical distancing must be enforced, especially in queuing at polling units. Alcohol-based sanitisers will be provided. Election will begin at 8:30am, to close at 2:30pm, but anybody on the outer queue by 2:30pm will still be allowed to vote. There will be two queues; an outer queue and an inner queue.”
