ONDO: No face mask, no voting, physical distancing a must —PTF

Voters not wearing face masks will not be allowed to vote in Saturday’s (tomorrow’s) governorship election in Ondo State, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has warned.

The national coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, who gave the warning on Thursday during the task force’s media briefing in Abuja also listed other COVID-19 protocols that must be observed during the Ondo exercise, including social distancing.

According to him every one participating in the Ondo exercise, voters, candidates, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security operatives and election observers must ensure they observe the anti-COVID-19 guidelines put in place for the poll.

READ ALSO: Ondo people are tired of bad governance, will vote out Akeredolu —Deputy Gov

“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,” he said.

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