By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned against violence ahead of the Edo and Ondo governorship elections.

Chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, gave the warning in a remark during the third regular quarterly consultative meeting with political parties for 2024 held at lNEC Conference Room in Abuja on Monday.

Yakubu recall that the last meeting focused mainly on the forthcoming Edo State and Ondo State Governorship elections. He briefed on the bye-elections that occurred since the last meeting.

According to Yakubu, “It is now 53 days to the Edo State Governorship election coming up on Saturday 21st September 2024. Our preparations are going on in earnest. 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 has been fixed. Vehicles have been repaired while other movable and immovable facilities have been serviced, refurbished or are being gradually 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 since published the final list of candidates but we are once again sharing the list with party leaders at this meeting in view of the recent Court Order mandating the Commission to replace the running mate of the candidate of the Labour Party. The amended list is already published on our website.

"Following the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), the display of the register for claims and objections by citizens, and further data clean-up using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), the final register for the 2024 Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States are being finalised. Before the end of this week, the Commission will publish the final figures of new voters in the two States as well as their distribution by gender, age, occupation and disability.

"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.

"The Commission is aware that going by our Timetable and Schedule of Activities, the register of voters will be published not later than 30 days before the date fixed for the election.

"We wish to reassure the Chairmen of political parties that each party fielding candidates in the forthcoming Governorship election in Edo State will receive the softcopy of the register on 20th August 2024 while that of Ondo State will take place on 15th October 2024.

"As the Edo State Governorship approaches, I wish to remind leaders of political parties of your obligation to submit the list of your agents by uploading the required information, including photographs, to the dedicated portal. This requirement is listed as item on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election released by the Commission nearly a year ago on 26th September 2023.

"As at yesterday, Sunday 28th July 2024, 14 political parties have uploaded the details of 38,354 polling agents and 819 collation agents for the Edo State Governorship election.Three parties are yet to upload a single polling agent while five parties have not uploaded a single agent for Ward, Local Government and State collation centers. The deadline is tomorrow Tuesday 30th July 2024 when the portal automatically shuts down at midnight.

"I urge you to ensure that you meet the deadline so that the Commission can produce the accreditation tags and deliver them to you for distribution to your agents in good time.

"Campaign by political parties and candidates is in full swing in both Edo and Ondo states. This is the time for party leaders to demonstrate compliance with the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022, especially the aspect dealing with rallies, processions and campaigns already available on our website.

“As a reminder, however, hard copies of the document have been included in your folders for this meeting. The campaign period has often been characterised by acrimony and tension. Sadly, it is also a period of verbal abuse and physical confrontation among parties, candidates and their supporters.”

Continuing, Yakubu said: “The Commission finds the recent event in Edo State resulting in the death of a security personnel worrisome. Happily, there has been no incident known to the Commission since then. Nevertheless, the Commission will meet with the security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

"I want to assure you that security in Edo and Ondo will be a major issue for discussion at the meeting. We are as concerned about the safety of your candidates, agents and supporters as we are about the security of our own officials, observers, journalists, service providers and, above all, the voters.

"Turning to the issue of bye-elections, you may recall that at our last meeting, I informed you of the existence of vacancies in four States, involving three State Constituencies and one Federal Constituency.

"Since then, two more vacancies have been declared by the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives following the death of the members representing Ibadan North Federal Constituency of Oyo State and the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency of Kaduna State. The Commission will soon announce the dates for the bye-elections.”

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