13th July, 2012
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said the people of Edo State would witness a fair process in the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
Jega, who arrived in the state on Tuesday, said he was in there to personally assess the commission’s final preparations for the election.
According to him,“we are in Edo State in fulfilment of the promise we made to Nigerians and the people of Edo State in particular to ensure a free, fair and credible election. And we are working day and night and doing our best to ensure that there is a free, fair and credible election in Edo State.
“I am here to see the last minute preparations before the Saturday election; I know we have done everything possible to ensure free, fair and credible election. But I am here to make sure everything has been done as planned before the election on Saturday,” he said.
The electoral umpire further said: “We have done everything possible within the rules and regulations to accredit observers for the election in Edo State. We have used the same procedure we have always used in all the elections we have had in INEC since the April election.
“We applied that criteria in a number of states; we normally advertise and people are given time within which to apply and anybody who did not apply within the time allocated will not be considered and that is what has happened in this regard.
“We did not deliberately exclude anybody. Anybody who has not been accredited as an observer in the Edo election is because he has not satisfied the requirement for accreditation for the election. We have had stories being peddled around that we did not accredit any Edo civil society organisation. Of course that is false and that is not true,” he averred.
Jega said the commission had accredited many Edo-based civil society organisations, adding that some of them did not meet the requirement for accreditation.
—Yisa Jamiu