The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, a former head of state, and other interested parties will witness the signing of a peace accord by the 17 governorship contenders in Edo State’s upcoming election tomorrow, Thursday.
Yakubu stated this during a visit to the state, accompanied by INEC’s National Commissioner supervising Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa States, Prof. Rhoda Gamus; the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in Edo, Dr. Anugbum Onuoha; and the Administrative Secretary of INEC in Edo, Emmanuel Ogbodu.
He noted that the signing of the agreement will hold at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub on Airport Road in Benin, at 10 a.m.
In addition to assuring that all money for the election would be delivered to the Edo State office, the INEC chairman said that his visit would enable the commission to test-run the materials that it had so far received. The commission would guarantee a credible, free, and fair poll.
INEC chairman said: “This is a readiness assessment visit to Edo State and the purpose is to visit some of the local government areas. We have visited three to assess the readiness in terms of the level of preparation, the materials received so far, and how they are organising the election in the next eleven days.
“Funds have been made available, and nobody is complaining. All the funds have been made available to the state and the state has made the funds available to the local government areas.”
“We have already visited two centers to observe a mock accreditation exercise intended to test run the integrity of our systems ahead of the election, both for voter accreditation as well as upload of the results to IREC porter.
“We have observed, and so far, so good in terms of readiness of our local government offices for the election and also in terms of the technology we are deploying for the election.
“We are satisfied with the level of preparation by the local government offices in the three offices we have visited, namely, Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba/Okha, as well as the two centers we have visited for the mock exercise. I think we are good to go,” he said.
He stated further: “My assurance to everyone in Edo State is: On the part of the Commission, we keep saying this: INEC is not a political party, therefore, we don’t have a candidate in this election.
“The responsibility of choosing the next governor of Edo State is entirely in the hands of Edo voters.”
The Edo poll has been scheduled to hold on the 21st of September 2024.
