By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has fixed Sept. 12 for the signing of Peace Accord for the Edo Governorship election in Benin City.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at an extraordinary meeting with political parties on the 2024 Edo governorship election on Thursday in Abuja.

Yakubu said that the date for the exercise would be presided over by the Chairman, National Peace Committee (NPC) and former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.

“You may notice that unlike the previous peace accords signed a few days to the election, INEC decided to do this early this time around.

“This is to enable the Peace Committee to monitor compliance with the code voluntarily signed by parties, candidates and other critical players in the electoral process such as INEC and the security agencies during the remaining days to the election.

“This will add further weight to the peace accord beyond mere ceremony as demanded by many observers and even some of the political actors themselves,” he said

Yakubu urged political parties in the state to maintain decorum and civility in their campaigns and comply with the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of rallies and processions.

He said that, so far, no political party had submitted to INEC the dates and locations of their major campaign rallies and processions to enable a better coordination of their campaign activities.

On the commission’s preparations for the election, Yakubu said that INEC had concluded the training of security personnel, while finalising the delivery of the few remaining non-sensitive materials for the election.

“We are concluding arrangements with the land and maritime transport unions for logistics.

“The printing of triplicate copies of voters’ register for each of the 4,519 Polling Units in Edo State is virtually completed.

“The installation and configuration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to be deployed on election day is completed. Observer accreditation tags are being produced,” he said.

He also said that so far 88 media organisation had applied for the accreditation of 698 personnel, adding that the training of various categories of ad hoc staff would commence soon.

He, however, said that after harvesting the details of polling and collation agents uploaded to the portal for the Edo election, INEC discovered that there were compliance issues, particularly with quality of PU agents.

He said that the problem cuts across all political parties in spite assistance offered by INEC and the fact that the digital nomination was not being done for the first time.

“I want to emphasise that there will be no going back to the manual process. It is gone for good.

“Already, observer groups and media organisations are in full compliance with the digital procedure. Political parties cannot be an exception.

“We will only produce tags for uploads that meet the requirements of our regulations and guidelines,” Yakubu said.

In his remarks, IPAC Chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, urged INEC to remain neutral as an umpire in the Edo election.

He also urged the commission to ensure its election materials were adequate and ready for the tasks ahead, particularly the BVAS and IReV portals.

He said that the state gubernatorial poll would be a litmus test for the Ondo governorship and future elections in the country.

Dantalle added that the election offered leaders of political parties, the chance to restore confidence in the electoral process by ensuring the sanctity of the ballot box, and respect the mandate of the people.

He urged political parties and their candidates to imbibe issue-based campaigns that would unite the people and foster development and sustainable democracy.

“There is no place for politics of bitterness and violence that has impeded the nation’s hard earned democracy,” Dantalle said. (NAN)

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