INEC warns against violence in forthcoming Elections

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu has indicated that the commission may summon political parties and their candidates in the Edo governorship election over the violent rallies in the state.

The Commission’s chairman stated this on Wednesday when he led a delegation to Nassarawa to meet with stakeholders ahead of the state constituency by-election.

Recall that the Edo election has been scheduled for September 19. The campaigns and rallies have been marred by variety of violence. Mahmood said the commission will meet with the stakeholders of the various political parties to deliberate about the situation.

According to Mahmood “We are carefully monitoring what is happening in Edo state and also in Ondo state.

“The commission will be meeting tomorrow and given the urgency of the situation in Edo state, we may have to immediately call a meeting of not just the candidates and the political parties but also the campaign councils — whatever we have to do to stem the ugly report of violence so far.
we will simply withdraw; let the thugs conclude the process and declare their winner”.

Concerning the Nassarawa constituency By-election, Mahmood said “We have delivered all the non-sensitive materials for the Nasarawa central election. The sensitive materials arrived a few days ago and are at the Central Bank of Nigeria in Lafia.

“My overall assessment is that we are good to go in Nasarawa state. It is an important election for us because this is the first election in Nigeria in the context of COVID-19 and we deliberately chose to start with Nasarawa central by-election so that we can learn the vital lessons we need to learn ahead of Edo and Ondo governorship elections, as well as 15 outstanding by-elections including six senatorial districts.

“So, on the whole, I am satisfied and reassured. So we look forward to a good election on Saturday.”.

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