The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has urged staff not to compromise the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State.
Speaking on Friday after inspecting election materials in Ikpoba, Egor and Oredo Local Governments in Benin, Edo State, he also advised the staff to embrace professionalism and neutrality during the exercise.
Yakubu who had earlier met with staff—Heads of Departments and Heads of Units from all the 18 Local Governments, said, “We are not supporting any political party or candidates and we are not against any of them. Our concern is the integrity and transparency of the process. I am confident you will not let the commission down”.
On the plans for the election in the context of the COVID-19, he noted that the Commission had ordered for about 3,000 Infrared Thermometer for polling units and voting points from the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, and maintained that electorates must wear masks.
According to him, “This time around, everyone involved in elections must wear face masks and provisions have been made for face masks, hand sanitizers and thermometers. We will make provisions for the 192 wards”.
While informing the staff that they will be required to manage the polling unit in a manner that they have not done before, he said that the cubicle will be demarcated to give two-meter distance between voters, since it is going to be accreditation and voting, adding that INEC will also deploy a tablet with camera which will take pictures of the result and transmit to the portal so that Nigerians can view the results in real time.
“We were here four years ago and the lesson we learnt is that we must be able to speed the process and declare the result on time, because the longer it takes the more it becomes problematic to manage it, so we must get logistics right”, Yakubu said.
He emphasized that he wants Nigerians to get to the polling unit to find the INEC staff and materials waiting for them, and not the other way round, adding that they have adjusted the time of opening of the polling units.
Also speaking, the Supervisory National Commissioner supervising Bayelsa, Edo and Rivers State, Barr. (Mrs) May Agbamuche Mbu, said that although a lot has been done in terms of funding, more still needs to be done.
While noting that the Edo office has a formidable team which is truly dedicated, she promised they will conduct the election to the best of their abilities.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Edo Resident Electoral Commissioner, Johnson Sinikiem, said all arrangements for the September 19 governorship election, including the training of EOs, AEOs among others, have been concluded, adding that the only challenge was the reduction of the budget.
He categorically said that the mantra for the election is professionalism, neutrality and non-partisanship.
