INEC Set To Release Registered Voters For Edo, Ondo Governorship Election, Meets Observers

By Ayodele Oni

With 52 days to the Edo State Governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has  assured that final figures of new voters in the state and that of Ondo will be released this week.

Details of their distribution by gender, age, occupation and disability will also be provided.

Thereafter, the timetable for the collection of uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) from previous registration, and new registrants from the latest CVR, will be published.

INEC chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu disclosed this on Tuesday during a meeting with Civil Societies Organizations, (CSOs) in Abuja.

Yakubu reiterated that the Commission reserves the right to revoke the accreditation of any individual Observer or Observer Group that violates Code of Conduct for election observation.

INEC boss reminded them of their obligation as observers to comply with the objectives of election observation and the Code of Conduct contained in the Commission’s rules of engagement for accredited election observers.

While reminding the CSOs to submit the list of their observers by uploading the required information, including photographs, to the dedicated portal, Prof Yakubu revealed that as at Monday 29th July 2024, 56 organisations have uploaded the details of 894 observers for the Edo State Governorship election representing 33.6% of the expected 2,660 observers.

The chairman  pointed out that the Commission is aware that some organisations have not only responded in good time, but have also requested for additional slots for observers to deploy across the two States.

“The Commission will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis depending on the organisation’s previous experience, size, capacity and record of compliance with the guidelines and code of conduct for election observation.”

He assured the CSOs of security in Edo and Ondo as the Commission will meet with the security agencies as early as Friday this week under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

“We are as concerned about the safety of candidates, agents and supporters as we are about the security of our own officials, observers, journalists, service providers and, above all, the voters.

“I am glad to report that we have recovered from the torrential rainfall that resulted in the severe flooding of our State Headquarters in Benin City two months ago.

“The damage to the physical infrastructure as well as movable and immovable facilities are being fixed or replaced.

“We have delivered additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to Edo State for the training of election duty personnel as well as contingency for Election Day support.

“We have once again published the final list of candidates in compliance with the recent Court Order mandating the Commission to replace the running mate to the candidate of the Labour Party. The amended list is already published on our website.”