The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday, expressed the commission’s readiness to ensure that the Ondo State Governorship Election scheduled for October 10 is free, fair and credible.

Yakubu said this while speaking with journalists during his official visit to the Ondo State INEC headquarters in Akure.

The INEC chairman said, “We are ready for the election. The same preparation we made for Edo is the same we will make for Ondo. For the purpose of this visit is for us to see practically what the state office has done, we also need to engage some of the stakeholders.

“For instance, we are meeting with the council of traditional rulers, and then thereafter the security agencies. We will meet with our staff; we have requested that all our staff in the 18 local governments to come to Akure on Friday. We will use the opportunity to see the level of preparation.

“We are coming back in a week for stakeholders’ meeting and tthe signing of the peace accord. But this visit is essentially to meet our own officials to see the level of preparation.”

On the over 5,000 card readers that were destroyed by fire, Yakubu stated that all the card readers would be replaced for the October election.

He said “We have already recovered, we have recovered by getting some card readers from Oyo State, they have been delivered to Ondo State, they have been charged and configured and ready for the October 10 governorship election.