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Ten days to the Edo State governorship election, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who monitored the accreditation process in Benin City, has confirmed INEC's readiness to conduct a free, fair and credible election in the state.
The INEC chairman gave the assurance when he paid a visit to the three local government areas of the state where mock accreditation took place.
The mock accreditation was held in the Egor, Ikpoba Okha and Oredo local government areas of the state.
Addressing journalists after the exercise in Benin City, Yakubu said from his assessment, the commission was fully ready for the September 21 governorship election.
He said, “This is our readiness assessment visit to Edo State and the purpose is to reach three select LGAs to assess our readiness in terms of preparations and materials received so far as well as how we are organising the election in the next 11 days. We have also visited two centres to observe the mock accreditation exercise.
“We intended to test-run the integrity of our systems ahead of the election and those for voter registration as well as the upload of the results to the IReV portal.
“We have observed, in terms of the readiness of our LG offices for the election and also the technology that we are deploying for the election, everything is in perfect condition.”
The INEC chairman stated that the commission under his watch had done its best, urging the people of Edo state to come out en masse and vote for the candidates of their choice.
He added, “INEC is not a political party, therefore, we don’t have a candidate in this election. The responsibility of choosing the governor of Edo State is entirely in the hands of Edo voters and our call on all the registered voters in the state is to troop out to vote for the party of their choice and the candidate of their choice.
"The commission will always protect the integrity of the person and uphold the choice made by the electorate.”
He also appealed to stakeholders, including security agencies, to collaborate with INEC to ensure a successful poll in the state.
“This is an off-cycle election; we have enough systems to go around. So, I want to assure you that the integrity of the process is protected,” the INEC chairman assured.
