EDO STATE ELECTIONS: INEC Meets Inter Agency Consultative Committee On Election Security In Benin

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on Thursday met with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security(ICCES) in Benin, Edo state, ahead of the Governorship Election scheduled for September 19, 2020.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the meeting, Prof. Yakubu, said the aim of the visit is to supervise and see first hand, the level of preparedness so far and what is truly on ground ahead of the elections.

He stated that in the next three weeks INEC will be conducting the first major election in the context of the Covid-19, adding that there is additional pressure to conduct both a safe and peaceful election, which is the reason for the meeting with members of ICCES and staff of INEC.

While noting that the security situation is part of what will be discussed at the meeting, Prof Yakubu said, “The environment has to be secured for the Commission to conduct an election, and we will take every step to ensure that.

“The Commission is ready for this election and we have come up with a policy on how to conduct elections which was test run with the Nasarawa Bye-elections. I trust that the security agencies are fully prepared to deal with potential threats”, he remarked.

Furthermore, he disclosed that 10 of the 14 activities itemized to be carried out on specific days ahead of the election, have been successfully carried out, adding that INEC is also working to ensure that Nigerian citizens in Edo state will know the total number of Permanent Voter’s Card (PVCs) collected in each of the 192 wards in the state.

Underscoring the Commission’s aim to achieve peaceful elections, he said the presence of a representative of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, and the National Peace Committee (NPC) at the meeting, is a sign that the Commission and other agencies are committed to a peaceful process, adding that there is a plan to sign the peace accord before the elections.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) INEC Edo State, Dr. Johnson Sinikiem, urged members of ICCES to take a close watch on the campaigns and discuss any issue or incidence, especially threats of violence.

Giving an insight to the election, he gave the delimitation data of Edo State as follows; Local Govt Areas-18; Registration Area (RA)- 192; Polling units- 2, 627; Voting points -1,892; Registered voters as at 2019-2,210,534; PVCs collected- 1,735,910; Undistributed PVCs 483,868; Total No. of Voting points- 4,519; and RAC Centres —192.

The REC, stated that they have received most of their non-sensitive materials for the election, and have equally distributed the ones they have received to the Electoral Officers of the 18 Local Government Areas.

“In conclusion, with 24 days to the election, I want to say that we are moving closer to the most critical and challenging part of the job. We must endeavour as a committee to work assiduously to prevent election violence to enable free, fair and credible election”, he emphasized.

In his brief remarks, the Deputy Head, National Peace Committee (NPC), Mr. Duke Anoemuah, said the NPC supports and trusts the efforts of the INEC Chairman and his team in conducting a free, fair, acceptable and credible election in Edo state, and thanked the INEC Chairman for giving the NPC the chance to have a stake in Edo state.

Also speaking, the representative of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr. Hassad Hassan, stated that the PTF encourages INEC to engage critical stakeholders in the context of Covid-19 through the ICCES, adding that it is clear that INEC is committed to the COVID-19 guidelines.

While noting that safety measures and the use of face masks were promoted in the just concluded Nasarawa state bye-election, he added that INEC has taken several measures by employing additional resources to ensure that elections are done in a safe manner.

For his part, the Co-Chair of ICCES and Commissioner of Police, Edo State, Johnson Kokumo, while speaking on the security arrangements for the Edo election, said, “We are prepared to address the issue of election security in Edo state from the land, water and air, and adequate training arrangements have been made and still ongoing for security personnel in a train the trainer manner.

“We are looking at security that will have respect for human rights in the democratic dispensation while observing the COVID-19 protocol, and we are working in synergy with all the security agencies and so, we meet to discuss burning issues regarding the elections”.

He noted that the meetings are not only to address issues around elections, but also issues that will enable them to curtail crime and criminality generally in Edo state.

He further said, “We are putting in place proactive measures to ensure that we take care of possible problems, adequate arrangements have been made for the riverine communities as we have marine police. For inter-border, we will have joint military, police and sister agencies at the entry and exit points into Edo state.

“We will make our phone numbers available to the public for quick responses, and telephone directory of the police will be made available to INEC and political parties to distribute to their people so it can get to the nook and crannies of Edo state”, he stated.

He assured INEC that the Security agencies will do all within their capacity to ensure they provide a conducive environment for a peaceful election

(The Sight News)