INEC expresses worry over violence during Edo election

Barely three weeks to the September 19 governorship election in Edo State, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood has expressed the readiness of the electoral to conduct a free and fair election, adding that the commission is worried over violence that may occur during the election.

With a total of 2,210,534 registered voters, only 1,735,910 people have so far managed to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) while 483,868 are yet to collect theirs.

Mahmood who spoke in Benin on Thursday at a meeting of members of Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) said that the commission was worried by the COVID-19 pandemic and that the policy on the conduct of the election took cognizance of the dreaded disease during the recent bye-election in Nassarawa State.

He said: “We are ready for the election. We have come out with the policy on how to conduct elections under COVID-19. We test run the policy in a small election on August 8 in Nasarawa State, when we had a bye-election in the Nasarawa Central State Constituency. Now, we are ready for the big one, which is Edo governorship election.”

Worried by the negative reports of the security situation in Edo State in the run-up to the polls, the INEC boss assured that he was going to discuss the issue with members of the committee.

Mahmood insisted that the environment must be secured for the commission to be able to conduct election.

He assured: “We are going to take every step to ensure that the environment is conducive for us to conduct election. I hope and I trust that the security agencies are also fully prepared to deal with potential troublemakers. We will make the system open and transparent.”

The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr.Johnson Kokumo declared the readiness of the police to address election security on the land, air and water on September 19.

Johnson disclosed that the police have made adequate security arrangement while the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has also contacted other security chiefs at the national level for synergy.

He said: “I wish to assure INEC chairman and other stakeholders that we will do all within our powers to provide conducive environment to conduct free, fair and credible governorship election in Edo State on September 19, 2020.”

The Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Johnson Alalibo disclosed that he has received most of the non-sensitive materials for the election which have been distributed to the electoral officers of the 18 Local Government Areas.

As members of ICCES, Alaibo said that it behoved on them to take a close watch on the campaigns and discuss any issue or incident, especially threats of violence on the platform.

“With 24 days to the election, I want to say that we are moving closer to the most critical and challenging part of the job. We must endeavour as a committee to work assiduously to prevent election violence, to enable free, fair and credible election.”

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Naira Heads To N500 To Dollar At Parallel Market
FOLLOWING the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) to authorized dealers to only open Forms M (a  mandatory statutory document to be completed by all importers in Nigeria) for payments in favour of the ultimate supplier of the product or service, with immediate effect, signs have emerged that this will shrink extra source of dollar supply to the parallel market and push the exchange rate to N500/US$…

How The Herbalist Planned My Escape ― Suspected Ibadan Serial Killer
Suspected Ibadan serial killer, Sunday Shodipe, who recently escaped from police custody before he was finally rearrested last Sunday, has narrated how the herbalist with whom he was arrested, Adedokun Yinusa, planned his escape. Shodipe (19), spoke with the Tribune Online shortly after he was paraded by the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, at the police command, Eleyele, Ibadan, on Wednesday…

Nigeria’s Q2 GDP Decline Better Than Forecast —Presidency
THE Presidency has said that the 2nd Quarter (Q2) 2020 Gross domestic product (GDP) estimates, which measures economic growth, published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published on Monday showed that the Nigerian economy performed better than expected…

‘Frequency Of S3xual Intercourse Has Nothing To Do With Enlarged Prostate’
Many men are not aware that with age, they stand a higher chance of developing difficulty urinating. In this interview by Sade Oguntola, a consultant urologist at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Dr Augustus Takure says prostate enlargement, whose symptoms could include difficulty in urination, is inevitable in all men…