10th September, 2024
By Jethro Ibileke
Ahead of the 21 September governorship election in Edo, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it has released all funds for the conduct of the election to the state office.
INEC National Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Tuesday in Benin, when he paid a visit to assess the preparedness and readiness of the Commission for the election.
He further disclosed that the visit would afford the Commission opportunity to test run materials received so far.
Yakubu was accompanied on the visit to Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba/Okha local government areas by the National INEC Commissioner supervising Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa States, Prof Rhoda Gamus; the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Anugbum Onuoha and the Administrative Secretary, INEC, Edo State, Emmanuel Ogbodu.
Commenting on the readiness of the Commission for the election, the INEC chairman said:
“This is a readiness assessment visit to Edo state and the purpose is to visit some of the local government areas. We have visited three to assess the readiness in terms of the level of preparation, the materials received so far and how they are organising the election in the next 11 days.
“Funds have been made available, nobody is complaining. All the funds have been made available to the state and the state has made the funds available to the local government areas.
“We have already visited two centers to observe a mock accreditation exercise intended to test run the integrity of our systems ahead of the election, both for voter accreditation as well as upload of the results to IREC porter.
“We have observed, and so far, so good in terms of readiness of our local government offices for the election and also in terms of the technology we are deploying for the election.
“We are satisfied with the level of preparation by the local government offices in the three offices we have visited, namely, Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba/Okha, as well as the two centers we have visited for the mock exercise. I think we are good to go,” he said.
He stated further: “My assurance to everyone in Edo State is: On the part of the Commission, we keep saying this: INEC is not a political party, therefore, we don’t have a candidate in this election.
“The responsibility of choosing the next governor of Edo State is entirely in the hands of Edo voters.”
He appealed to all registered voters in Edo to come out to vote for the party of their choice anr the candidate of their choice, assured that the Commission will protect of the integrity of the process and uphold the choice made by the electorate.
The INEC boss assured that the Commission will do everything possible to ensure a free, fair and credible election come 21 September.
“In addition, I’ve also come to speak to all EOs [Electoral Officers] in all the 18 local government areas and we are going to harvest all their concerns. That is why we are here well ahead of the election so that we may respond to any issues that they may raise.
“It has always been the intention of the Commission to organize good elections, and I’ve given assurances on the level of preparation on the part of the Commission. That is why I’m personally in Edo State,” he said.
Prof. Yakubu also allayed concern over possibilities of system failure during the election.
“We have inner backup. For instance, all the machines we use fot the mock in 12 polling units across three senatorial districts in Edo State will not be used for the election, so, the BVAS to be used for the election are different from beavers for the mock.
“Similarly, the BVAS that are going to be used for training will not be deployed for the election. For this off-circle election, we have enough system to go round. I want to assure you that the integrity of the system is protected,” he assured.
