Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has warned staff of the commission against dereliction of duty during the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State.
Professor Mahmood who noted that the November 16th off-cycle governorship election in the state was not just a national election, but also of global interest, also urged political parties to restrain their supporters from any disruptive behavior.
The INEC boss stated this during the stakeholders’ meeting on the forthcoming governorship held in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
He said, “We have warned our staff that there will be consequences for dereliction of duty in any way or form. Tomorrow afternoon, I am going to address the staff, including the Electoral Officers from the 18 Local Government Areas. ”
Mahmood who further disclosed that INEC has a role to play and had done so in consultation with stakeholders, noted that the commission’s role has to be complemented by all stakeholders.
According to him, “In our various engagements with the security and law enforcement agencies, we underscored the importance of providing security during the election to guarantee personal safety and protection of observers, the media, our officials (both regular and ad hoc staff), service providers such as transporters and, above all, the citizens that will vote during the election.
“I am glad that the relevant agencies have given us the necessary assurances of security during the election, including unimpeded access to voting and collation locations for observers and the media.
“Let me reassure stakeholders that INEC is ready for the election. We are deploying the BVAS machines for voter accreditation at polling units and the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. Only yesterday (Wednesday), we conducted mock accreditation in 12 polling units across six Local Government Areas in the three Senatorial Districts of the State.
“The purpose was to test-run our deployment of technology to safeguard the credibility of the election. I am glad to report that the mock was successful, and the result can be viewed on the IReV portal,” the INEC Chairman said.
He quickly added that the machines used for the mock accreditation and the training of officials will not be used on Election Day. “We have sufficient machines for the election which have been configured for voter accreditation and the upload of results distinct from those used for mock accreditation and training.”
While noting that the Commission had accredited 111 domestic and international organisations deploying 3,554 observers for the election, Mahmood also said that INEC also accredited over 100 radio, television, newspaper, and online media organisations deploying about 700 personnel, including 129 female journalists which he noted to be the largest number for any off-cycle governorship elections in Nigeria.
