Edo guber: INEC visits three LGAs, assures of commission’s readiness to conduct free, fair, credible poll

…As police arrest council boss over alleged political violence

By Elvis Omoregie

The Chairman, Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, yesterday, assured residents of Edo state of the Commission’s readiness to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the state.

He gave the assurance when he paid on-the-spot assessment visits to the three local government areas where the commission has its offices in the state.

The areas visited by the INEC’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood includes Egor, Ikpoba Okha and Oredo Local Government Areas of the state.

Addressing journalists after the inspection exercise in Benin, Mahmood said from his assessment, the commission is fully armed to the teeth for the governorship election in the state and that the electorate have nothing to worry about.

“This is our readiness assessment visit to Edo State and the purpose is to visit some of the local government areas and we have visited three to assess their readiness in terms of the level of preparations and materials received so far and how they are organising the election in the next 11 days and thereafter, we have also visited two centres to observe the Mock Accreditation exercise.

“We intended to test run the integrity of our systems ahead of the election and those for voter registration as well as the upload of the results to the IREV portal.

“So, we have observed and so far so good, in terms of readiness of our local government offices for the election and also the technology that we are deploying for the election, everything is in perfect condition.”

Prof. Mahmood added that the commission under his watchful eyes has done its best noting that it now behoves on the electorate to come out en-emass on that day to vote the candidate of their choice as the commission is to uphold the choice of candidate made by them.

“INEC is not a political party, therefore, we don’t have a candidate in this election.

“The responsibility for choosing the governor of Edo State is entirely in the hands of Edo voters and our assurance to all the registered voters in Edo state is to troop out to vote for the party of their choice and the candidate of their choice and the Commission will always protect the integrity of the person and uphold the choice made by the electorate,” Mahmood said.

While giving the assurance on the preparedness of INEC to write its name on gold, said, “It has always been the intention of the Commission to organise a good election and I have given assurances on the level of preparations on the part of the Commission and that is why I am personally in Edo state.

“And let me use this opportunity to appeal to other stakeholders as well. Election is a multi-stakeholder activity including the security agencies, the political parties, the candidates, the observers and even the media.

“We have enough backup. For instance, all the machines used for the mock in 12 polling units across three senatorial districts in Edo state will not be used for the election.

“So, the BIVAS that will be used for the election are different from BIVAS for the Mock and similarly the bvas machines that will be used for the training will not be deployed for the election.

“This is an Off-Cycle election, we have enough systems to go round. So, I want to assure you that the integrity of the process is protected.”

In a related development, the Commissioner of Police in Edo State, CP, Nemi Edwin-Iwo, on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of the Esan West Local Government Council Chairman, Collins Aigbogun.

Recall that the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Edo had petitioned the Inspector General of Police over political violence that erupted in Illeh community,  Esan West Local area as the APC fingered the Council boss to be responded to for the alleged violence.

Addressing journalists at the police headquarters in Benin, CP Edwin-Iwo, said that the council boss was brought to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the command in Benin by the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area upon police invitation.

He said that Collin Aigbogun upon arriving at the office of the CID was discovered to have earlier been wanted by the police over other alleged criminal charges.

He said, “Yes, he was invited and he reported himself to the police and we later discovered that he has other criminal charges against him.

“Basically, what happened was that he brutalised somebody in the course of altercations between himself and other party members.

“He was invited and the DPO in the area brought him to the State CID where it was discovered earlier before now, he had other charges against him.

“Our men from FID came and said that the man had earlier been wanted and there was now need for them to take him along so that they can investigate his matter.

“That was how he was moved to Abuja. The whole thing is being investigated and I hope that at the end of the day, if there is anything against him, he will be brought back to Benin,” he disclosed

Speaking on the Command’s readiness for September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State, the Commissioner warned non state actors to stay clear of the poll, saying that they have no business with the election.

He revealed that the police have commenced illegal arms mopping across the 18 local government council areas in the state in order to have a hitch-free election.

“We are mopping up harms across the local government council areas in the state ahead of the election. We request the public to give us information on where we can mop up illegal arms.

“We are going to create an environment where we are going to have a free and fair election and make the environment enabling so that anybody can walk freely without any molestations or intimidations

“I want to reemphasise again as INEC has done earlier that non-state actors are not supposed to carry arms and are not part of the election at all.

“So, all that we are doing now before the election is to make sure that we clear all illegal arms as much as we can. The operation is ongoing and I have operatives virtually in all the local government areas now,” he stated