From David Onuoja, Abuja
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has met with stakeholders ahead of the 21 September gubernatorial election in Edo state.
Professor Yakubu who was in Edo with some of his team said they are there to ensure everything is in order especially as he met with the stakeholders to iron things if any before the election proper.
His word: “As you are aware, election is a multi-stakeholder activity. INEC has a role to play but this must be complemented by stakeholders.The 2024 Edo State Governorship election is not just a national election, it is also of global interest.
“The Commission has so far accredited 134 groups (124 domestic and 10 international) deploying 1,836 observers across the State. Similarly, we have accredited 114 media organisations deploying 721 journalists.
Related News
“We have also accredited thousands of agents representing candidates and political parties at the 4,730 polling and collation locations made up of 4,519 polling units, 192 Ward collation centres, 18 Local Government collation centres and the State Collation Centre.
“It has been the tradition that a stakeholders’ meeting of this nature is convened on the eve of major off-cycle Governorship elections, jointly addressed by the INEC Chairman and the Inspector-General of Police” he said.
He commended all stakeholders in Edo State for the level of mobilisation for the voter registration and collection of PVCs.
“I want to assure you that the accreditation tags for all categories of stakeholders are ready. We will announce the date and venue for collection in the next 24 hours. Similarly, election duty vehicle stickers are available for collection from our Edo State office here in Benin City”.
Yakubu also made understand that, all the uncollected PVCs will be mopped up from the 18 Local Government Areas and warehoused in the Central Bank of Nigeria until after the Governorship election.
On the Security, INEC boss assured the stakeholders that he was glad that the relevant agencies have given them necessary assurance of security during the election.
“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.
- “We will invite political parties and other stakeholders for the usual inspection of the materials at the Central Bank here in Benin ahead of the delivery to the Local Government Areas. **We are leaving no stone unturned in our preparations for the election, always in consultation with the stakeholders”, he added.
