By Saviour Alabi Jimoh
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, on Tuesday paid
an inspection visit to three Local Government Areas in Edo State in a bid to ascertain the level of preparedness of each local government for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state, slated for September 21.
Ikpoba Okha was first to be visited. The Electoral Officer at the local government during the visit assured the chairman that preparation is almost done and expressed some of the challenges that will be fixed before the election.
The EO confirmed the availability of ballot boxes, generators, and other non sensitive materials. He also stated that the environment will be put in a conducive atmosphere to ensure credible free and fair elections.
The next was Egor local government area as the presence of the Chairman was received warmly by the EO and other officials. The INEC chairman was taken through the various departments and confirmation of their readiness for a hitch free election.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, however insisted that the ongoing rehabilitation should be completed on or before Friday to ensure the full preparation of the local government for the state election.
Prof. Yakubu also visited the Oredo local government area office of the commission to ascertain its level of readiness.
Two mocks accreditation centres were visited to ensure all materials expected to be deployed for the election are in good condition and to test run the integrity of the system.
The INEC chairman assured the edolites that all the devices and other materials used for the mock accreditation will not be deployed for the forthcoming gubernatorial election.
In a brief interview with the press , Mahmood Yakubu said, ” This is a routine activity that the commission must be undertaking to avoid major obstacles of governorship election.
“This is a readiness assessment visit in 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 preparation and the materials received so far and how they are organising the election in the next eleven days.
“Thereafter, we have also visited two centres to observe the mock accreditation exercises intended to test run the integrity of our system ahead of the election both for voters accreditation as well as the upload of results to the IREV porter.
“So we have observed and so far so good in terms of the readiness of our local government offices for the election and also the technology we are deploying for the election.”
Speaking on the confidence of the voters in Edo state for the gubernatorial election, Mamood Yakubu said on the part of the commission, “INEC is not a political party. Therefore, they do not have a candidate in this election.
“The responsibility of choosing the next governor in Edo state is entirely in the hands of Edo people, and our assurance is all the registered voters is to vote for the party of their choice and the candidate of their choice as well as the commission is to protect the integrity of the process and uphold the choice made by the electorate”.
The INEC Chairman also said that he is well satisfied by the level of preparedness of the three local government areas visited (Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba-Okha) and also the two centres visited for the mock accreditation exercises, saying that “we are good to go for the election.”
He however admitted that there were little logistic issues that needed to be addressed.
He further disclosed that his meeting with the Electoral Officers in the 18 local government areas of the state was aimed at harvesting the issues with a view to addressing them.
“Well, there are little, little issues that we are going to address, like some of the non sensitive materials but with the 11 days to the election, I’m absolutely certain that by the end of this week, we will address those issues.
“But in addition, I’m also going to speak with all the EOs in the 18 local government, not just the local government we visited and this is going to happen on Thursday after the signing of the national peace accord. So, I’m going to speak with all the EOs and we will harvest all the concerns.
“That’s why we are here ahead of the election, so that we can respond to any issue that may arise,” the INEC Chairman stated.
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