The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has stated that the Commission is fully prepared for the governorship election in Edo State on September 21.
Naija News reports that the INEC boss emphasized that there are currently no anticipated security threats.
Addressing the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters, Yakubu assured that there have been no reports suggesting any security risks during the election.
Although a political party raised concerns about potential security issues during a visit by INEC National Commissioners to the state, there has been no formal report from any political party or candidate indicating a security threat.
Yakubu mentioned that during a meeting with political parties at the INEC office in Benin, the Commissioner of Police assured that any security concerns would be addressed in collaboration with the state government.
He said: “As we speak, we have less than 60 days to the election in Edo state and about 100 days to the election in Ondo state. Is the commission prepared for the elections? We are prepared for the election.
“I must also say that this commission in particular has history of having conducted three governorship elections in each of the two state. We conducted the 2016 governorship election in Edo, in 2020 September and now in September 2024.
“In Ondo, we conducted the election in 2016 October, in 2020 and by God’s grace, in November 2024. So, these are States where we have conducted previous elections successfully.
“I led a team of commissioners to the two states and we interfaced with the stakeholders particularly political parties and held meetings with the security agencies.
“In terms of our preparations, we don’t anticipate much problems in spite of the unfortunate flooding in our office in Edo. This is not the first time. In 2020, we operated from a rented office. But this time around, thank God the act of God came early and so, we have enough time to respond and to conduct the election in our own facility. The election will hold within our own premises.
“What is our concern for the Edo state governorship election? Just like any other election, it is security.
“When we were there (Edo), one of the political parties raised an issue about the likely deployment of the ESSN, the Edo State Security Network.
“Immediately we received the complaint, we headed to the office of the Commissioner of Police and held a meeting with all security agencies in Edo State.
“At that meeting, we agreed that we are going to meet with all the political parties in our office and we did so. The Commissioner of Police told us that he will take up the matter with the state government. The issue at that time was the issue of the Continuous Voter Registration.
“Since then, I am not aware of any complaint from any party or candidate on the role of the ESSN. So, I believe that the Commissioner of Police must have spoken to the leadership of the ESSN. For now, so far so good. I said so far so good. But we have 57 days to the election.”