Sensitive election materials for Saturday’s Osun State governorship election have arrived at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) facility in Osogbo, the state capital, ahead of their distribution to the various local government areas.
The materials were conveyed to Osogbo from Abuja in trucks and were offloaded at the CBN facility.
The distribution of the materials was earlier scheduled to commence at 8am on Thursday, but as of about 9:50pm, the trucks conveying the materials were still being offloaded.
The delay comes amid reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had to reprint ballot papers following the late inclusion of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate in the list of candidates for the election.
The development increased the number of candidates contesting the August 15 governorship election from 14 to 15.
The reprinting of the ballot papers is believed to have affected the timeline for the distribution of the sensitive materials to the 30 local government areas of the state.
The materials are expected to be distributed to the various LGAs after the offloading process is completed, ahead of their eventual deployment to polling units across the state.
The development comes less than 48 hours before Osun residents head to the polls to elect the next governor of the state.
