Edo, Ondo guber: INEC ‘ll bank on security agencies for peaceful poll –Yakubu

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has informed the headship of the various security agencies that the commission will bank on them to conduct peaceful governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

Yakubu made the appeal in his remarks at the meeting with the Inter-Agency Conservative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday. He charged the security agencies to replicate their proactive approaches that led to the successful conduct of the last governorship elections in the two states on September 2020 and October 2020 respectively.

The INEC boss equally revealed that while 17 out of 19 political parties have indicated interest in participating in the Ondo election, six parties have not yet uploaded the list of their candidates for Edo poll to the commission’s portal barely 24 hours to the deadline. He said: “It is important to start security preparations very early. In particular, the number of personnel and other assets to be deployed to strategic locations should be determined and mobilised early enough.

“It was this proactive approach that led to the successful conduct of the last governorship election in Edo State on September 19, 2020 and in Ondo State on October 10, 2020.

“There were no security incidents, materials were delivered promptly, logistics deployed smoothly, polling units opened on time, voters attended to efficiently and results collated and announced transparently.

“Let us replicate the successful conduct of the last governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states. In fact, working together, we should ensure that the 2024 governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states are an improvement on the success story of 2020.

“In the next few months, there will be further engagements with the security agencies and other members of ICCES at both national and state levels. We look forward to your plans to secure the environment without which INEC cannot successfully conduct elections,” he stressed.