BY MYKE UZENDU
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has expressed it’s readiness to conduct a free fair and transparent governorshiip election in Edo state on Saturday September 21, 2024
This is even as the commissioners has confirmed the receipt of all the required funds for the exercise
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this on Tuesday in Benin City, ,during the inspection of the Commission’s facilities in preparation for the conduct of the election
Professor Yakubu noted that all the funds for the election have been received and released to the state and the 18 local government offices before the recent increase of the fuel price.
He further also expressed the Commission’s satisfaction for the non-sensitive facilities already on ground for the conduct of the election.
“Our visit to Edo State is a routine activity of the Commission on the eve of major off-cycle elections. This is a readiness assessment visit to the state, and the purpose is to visit some of the local government areas.
“We have visited three local government areas to assess the readiness in terms of the level of preparation, the materials received so far and how they are organising the election in the next 11 days.
“We have already visited two centers to observe a mock accreditation exercise intended to test run the integrity of our systems ahead of the election, both for voter accreditation as well as upload of the results to IREC portal.
“We are satisfied with the level of preparation by the local government offices in the three offices we have visited, namely, Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba/Okha, as well as the two centers we have visited for the mock exercise. I think we are good to go.
“We have observed, and so far, so good in terms of readiness of our local government offices for the election and also in terms of the technology we are deploying for the election,” he said.
The INEC boss assured the Edo people of the Commission’s commitment to conduct credible, fair and free election, noting that the Commission as an umpire does not have a candidate even as he noted that the responsibility of choosing the next governor of the state was entirely in the hands of the electorate who would vote during the election.
“My assurance to everyone in Edo State is, on the part of the Commission, we keep saying that INEC is not a political party, therefore, we don’t have a candidate in the election. The responsibility of choosing the next governor of Edo State is entirely in the hands of Edo voters,” he added.
While assuring that the Commission would protect the integrity of the process and uphold the choice made by the electorate, Yakubu also appealed to all registered voters in the state to come out to vote for the party and the candidate of their choice.