We cannot shift Edo guber poll – INEC declares

…As sensitive materials arrive Benin City

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that the Commission will not shift the September 10, 2016, governorship election in Edo State because of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) taking place across the country and the West African sub-region that same day.

Speaking to National Daily from Abuja, INEC Chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, through the INEC spokesperson, said that the Commission is going ahead with the governorship election as scheduled and has communicated WAEC to either relocate the candidates to other states or postpone the examination from that Saturday, adding that the Commission has communicated its decision to the Police.

He said that INEC has been battling with the problem of elections inconsistencies; being unable to conclude elections according to schedule.

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“We cannot shift the gubernatorial election. WAEC has to relocate the candidates to other states. The Police has communicated the decision to WAEC but the Council is yet to respond,” he declared.

He maintained that the examination cannot hold under election condition where movement is restricted throughout the day.

He admitted that electoral materials have arrived the Edo State INEC office as part of the Commission’s readiness for the election. He, however, observed that the materials are arriving in batches, saying that they cannot arrived the state at once.

Sensitive materials had arrived Benin City last Monday; the INEC assured that the materials are under sufficient protection by security operatives. The materials were conveyed in a cargo plane from Abuja and arrived at about 5.30 pm.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC in Edo State, Mr. Sam Olumekun, was gathered to have guaranteed that the proposed time-table for the election is well on course.

He was said to have disclosed that over 400,000 Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) for the Edo State governorship election are yet to be collected from INEC.

During the distribution of the materials to the 18 local government areas of Edo State, staff of the commission were seen in numbers making necessary arrangement for the dispatch of the materials to their assigned destinations, while some of the vehicles were already been loaded for onward transmission to the Local Government Areas.