There palpable anxiety in the camps of different political parties in Osun West senatorial district yesterday as they geared up for today’s by-election into the Senate.

Members of the two leading political parties in the senatorial district, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were designated to monitor electoral materials from the Central Bank in Osogbo, the state capital, to the 10 council areas were busy yesterday feeding their bosses with information from the field.

The election is considered by pundits as a straight fight between the candidate of the APC, Senator Mudasiru Hussain and that of PDP, Otunba Ademola Adeleke.

It was gathered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) insisted that the agents representing the different political parties in the monitoring of materials must be literate.


 
A source in INEC, who preferred annoymity, said many agents were rejected because they were not competent to interpret issues and events.

Meanwhile, the INEC in Osun State yesterday took delivery of election materials from the Osogbo branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria ahead of today’s by-election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner deployed to the state for the election, Mr. Baritor Kpagi, took the delivery alongside other officials of the commission and party agents.

Kpagi, who said the commission was ready to deliver on its mandate, assured that the materials were enough to prosecute the election as well as take care of any eventuality.

According to him, the materials arrived in different colour bars for the 10 different local governments in the senatorial district and have been distributed accordingly.

Representatives of the political parties at the point of delivery and distribution hailed INEC for the transparency in the process and expressed hope that the rest of the process would be completed in the same manner.


 
The materials were being distributed to each of the 10 local governments areas under heavy security before distribution to the various wards.

INEC’s office on Gbongan Road  yesterday was a beehive of activities as journalists were accredited to cover the election.

Tags and identification cards were distributed to journalists, registered election observers and party agents to ensure that only persons accredited by INEC participate in the election.

The Osun State Police Command yesterday said it had deployed more than enough security personnel to monitor today’s by-election.

The Commissioner of Police, Olafimihan Adeoye, made the disclosure in Osogbo while deploying officers and men that would monitor election in the 10 councils in Osun West.

The Police boss warned political parties taking part in the election to shun violence or face the full weight of the law.

Adeoye added that officers of the command would be placed in strategic locations to prevent breakdown of law and order, stressing that the police would remain neutral on election day.