Despite assurances by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) and the Police of a free, fair election, some political parties and candidates expressed concern about security ahead of the Edo State governorship scheduled for September 21.
The parties and candidates expressed their reservations over the security situation at a stakeholders meeting in Benin which had the INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, and governorship candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo and Labour Party, Olumide Akpata and others.
Civil Society Organisations, religious leaders, traditional institutions, security agencies and other critical stakeholders were also at the meeting.
At the event, INEC chairman, Yakubu, said the electoral body has sufficiently tested machines for the polls which have been configured for voters accreditation and upload of results.
Yakubu also reiterated that the body has registered over 2.6 million voters to participate in the election, adding that soft copies of the voters register have been made available to all the political parties.
However, the PDP chairman in the state, Tony Aziegbemi, accused the Police of bias against the party, adding that party leaders and members have been arrested and detained by the police without charging them to the court of law.
Similarly, governorship candidates of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Derek Izedonmwen, Peoples Redemption Party, (PRP), Patience Ndidi Key; New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), represented by the deputy governorship candidate, Hon. Edith Isokpan, also expressed strong concern about security for the election.
However, the APC acting chairman in the state, Emperor Jarret Tenebe, expressed satisfaction with INEC’s preparation and urged the Police to ensure Edo Security Network (ESN) remains suspended.
He said ESN, despite being suspended, has continued to attack and maim APC members, and that the party can no longer allow its members to be attacked in the state.
However, Mahmood, while reassuring of INEC’s readiness to conduct a free, fair and credible election, urged all stakeholders to cooperate with the commission to deliver on its mandate.
He said, “Let me reassure stakeholders that INEC is ready for the election. We are deploying the BVAS machines for voter accreditation at polling units and for the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
“Only yesterday, 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. But let me also quickly add 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.”
IGP Kayode Egbetokun, assured that the police would provide what he described as ‘robust security’ for the election and warned trouble makers of dire consequences to disrupt the conduct of the election.
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