19th September, 2024
By Paul Dada & Jethro Ibileke
The Edo State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tony Aziegbemi, has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission over its preparation for the 21 September governorship election in the state.
Aziegbemi who was speaking with newsmen on Thursday morning at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Benin City, where sensitive materials for the election were being distributed, said: “The process has been pretty good, INEC has done most of the things they said they will do.
“The National Commissioner supervising Edo and the REC… they are signing the result sheets (form ECAB and form ECAC). These are the Ward and LGA result sheets.
“So far, so good, we just hope that the police now takes it over. The police must now ensure that these materials get to INEC headquarters in the different local government areas. And they must make sure that from the different local government headquarters, nothing happens to these materials.
“We can say for now that we are pleased with the way the whole things are being organised. It is now in the hands of the police and we hope that the police do the right thing and protect the materials to the different local government areas”.
The tone of PDP was different from what it took earlier which suggested that the party had no confidence in INEC to be fair in the conduct of the election.
The PDP had in a letter to the National Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, called for the redeployment of the Edo Resident Electoral Commissioner, Anugbum Onuoha, alleging that he was an acquaintance of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The party said it was concerned that Onuoha served under Wike as Commissioner and Special Adviser for Lands, Survey, when the minister was the governor of Rivers State.
“The ties between these two are too close to ignore as they share familiarities and are also close associates. To be clear, the relationship between the two is outlined below:
“The said Edo REC is a cousin to the Minister of the FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike. He also served as a former Commissioner and Special Adviser for Lands, Survey, and Housing to Mr. Wike during his tenure as Rivers governor,” the letter had partly read.
But INEC through the Chief Press Secretary to its Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, had said the REC would not be redeployed assuring of a transparent process
INEC said: “The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Edo State will not be redeployed. The governorship election will be conducted on 21st September 2024 in 4,519 polling units, not in the REC’s office.
“In the same manner, polling unit results will be declared by the respective Presiding Officers after the voting, ballot sorting and counting processes, in the presence of accredited party agents and other stakeholders”.
