Edo/Ondo Polls: INEC Raises Security Concerns

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised concerns over the safety and security of candidates, agents, commission officials, observers, journalists, and voters as campaigns for the forthcoming Edo and Ondo governorship elections go full swing.

The chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, raised the concern at the third regular quarterly consultative meeting between the Commission and political parties in Abuja on Monday.

He said campaigns by political parties and their candidates were in full swing in both Edo and Ondo States, and it was the time for party leaders to demonstrate compliance with INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022, especially the aspect dealing with rallies, processions and campaigns already available on our website.

“The campaign period has often been characterised by anger and tension. Sadly, it is also a period of verbal abuse and physical confrontation among parties, candidates and their supporters.

“The Commission finds the recent event in Edo State resulting in the death of security personnel worrisome. Happily, there has been no incident known to the Commission since then.

“We are as concerned about the safety of your candidates, agents and supporters as we are about the security of our officials, observers, journalists, service providers and, above all, the voters,” Yakubu said.

He said the commission will publish the final figures of new voters in Edo and Ondo States before the end of the week, after which the timetable for the collection of uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) from previous registration and new registrants from the latest CVR will be published.

The INEC chairman reiterated that political parties must submit the list of their agents for the Edo governorship election by uploading the required information, including photographs, to the commission’s dedicated portal before Tuesday, when the portal will be automatically shut down at midnight.

He said that as of Sunday, July 28, 2024, 14 political parties had uploaded the details of 38,354 polling agents and 819 collation agents for the Edo State Governorship election. Three parties had yet to upload a single polling agent, while five parties had not uploaded a single agent for Ward, Local Government, and State collation centres.

For its part, the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC)  demanded the immediate scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) so that INEC could take over the conduct of local government council elections.

The chairman of IPAC, Yusuf Dantalle, commended the recent financial autonomy granted to the 774 Local Governments in Nigeria following the Supreme Court’s judgement, saying it will go a long way in transforming the nation and providing basic social amenities to citizens at the third tier of government.