By PETER DURU

MAKURDI –  Governor Gabriel  Suswam of Benue State has lauded the Independent  National Electoral Commission  INEC, for the  arrangements put  in place  in  the  state to ensure the smooth conduct of the National Assembly elections in the state.

Governor Suswam, who gave the commendation after casting his vote at about 1:30pm at the Government House voting unit, also gave kudos to security operatives for ensuring peace at all the polling units in the state.

He noted that the situation on ground in the state was an improvement to what was availed the people of the state during the last botched elections.

According to him, “What I have seen today is a great improvement to what happened during the botched polls last week; I commend the commission for genuinely addressing the concerns raised by Nigerians last week”.

“The shift from last week has greatly engendered transparency in the conduct of the polls, the commission has to be commended for doing a thorough job”, Suswam added.

On security concerns in the state, the Governor pointed out that security operatives have been working round the clock to ensure that no major incident occurs in the state.

“I commend security operatives because they are doing their beats and I am pleased with the situation on ground”, he said.

While regretting the postponement of elections in the Benue North West Senatorial Districts and two federal constituencies in the state, Governor Suswam however noted that if the move would engender transparency in the process it should be supported to ensure that INEC conducted credible polls in the state.      

Meanwhile the INEC in Benue State ensured early distribution of electoral materials across the state while accreditation of voters started as early as 8:30am in most of the polling units in the state visited.

Large turnout of voters was recorded in all the polling units visited while security operatives hadn’t much to do as voters were orderly in areas visited by Vanguard.