The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday assured stakeholders in Edo of the commission’s readiness for the Sept. 21 governorship election.
Yakubu told the stakeholders in Benin to cooperate with the commission to ensure credible election.
Yakubu noted that the meeting was a tradition convened on the eve of major off-cycle governorship elections and jointly addressed by the INEC chairman and the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
He explained that the purpose was to interact with political parties and candidates, accredited observers, the media and other stakeholders on the preparations for the election.
The chairman said on the part of INEC, active preparations for the election started last year with the release of the timetable and schedule of activities for the election as required by law.
He disclosed that 13 statutory activities were listed beginning with the publication of the notice of election and ending with the election day, adding that 11 out of the 13 activities had been concluded.
“We have already published the final list of candidates. However, there are two adjustments to the list.
“By court order, the commission has replaced the running mate to the candidate of the Labour Party.
“Similarly, the National Rescue Movement (NRM), which could not file its nomination on schedule, has obtained a court order to compel the commission to include the party on the ballot.
“We have complied with the court order. Consequently, 18 political parties are now participating in the 2024 Edo state governorship election,” he added.
The chairman stated that the commission had already announced that Edo State now has a total of 2,629,025 registered voters.
Egbetokun said about 45,000 security personnel will be deployed to provide the election.
This is in addition to about 80,000 other security personnel drawn from other sister security agencies.
IGP disclosed that no local security outfits operating in the state will be allowed to be part of the election duty.
According to the police boss, the Nigerian Police was solely responsible for the management of election security working in collaboration with other national security agencies under the purview of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
Egbetokun warned that any individual or group engaging in unauthorised security functions before, during and after the election would face immediate arrest and prosecution, potential troublemakers contemplating disruptive actions during the election to abandon such intentions.