We’re ready for Edo election —INEC

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said on Thursday the commission was fully prepared for the September 19 governorship election in Edo State.

Yakubu stated this during a meeting with the Inter Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) in Benin.

He said the commission had successfully carried out 10 out of the 14 activities on schedule for the election.

Yakubu said: “The whole purpose of this visit is to see firsthand the level of preparation. Yes, we received reports at the headquarters but we feel that it is important to come to Benin and see for ourselves what is on ground.

“On February 6, 2020, the commission released a timetable and schedule of activities for Edo and Ondo governorship elections. We gave seven and eight months notices for the Edo and Ondo elections respectively.

`And we itemised 14 activities in the timetable and schedule of activities to be carried out on specific dates beginning with the publication of the notice of election and ending with election day proper.

“I am happy to say that so far we have carried out 10 out of the 14 activities on schedule. Not one activity was rescheduled for a minute.

“The last one was the presentation of the voters register to the 14 political parties fielding candidates for the election.”

According to him, the four outstanding activities are the publication of the notice of poll which will be done on Tuesday, followed by the submission of polling agents by the political parties on the same day.

“End of campaign which by law is 24 hours to the election. So, campaign will stop by midnight of Thursday before the Saturday of election and then the election day itself.

“So, in terms of readiness, we are fully ready for this election,’’ he added.

The INEC chairman noted that the Edo State election would be the first major poll the commission would conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that the commission had come out with a policy on how to conduct an election in a pandemic.

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