The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 8 for the signing of peace accord by political parties and candidates participating in the November 16 Ondo State governorship election.
The peace accord as usual, will be supervised by General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.) led National Peace Committee.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at a fourth regular quarterly meeting with Leaders of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), said though there has been no major incident of election-related violence known to the commission, it is however aware of flash points in some local government areas, and said the attention of the security agencies have already be drawn to it.
He disclosed that mock accreditation of voters and result upload to the IReV has been scheduled for Wednesday November 6 in 12 polling units across six local government areas in the three senatorial districts of Ondo State.
“As early as next week, the commission will undertake a final readiness assessment of our preparations for the Ondo election, meet with our officials, engage with stakeholders and interact with the security agencies and transport providers,” Prof. Yakubu stated.
INEC Chairman said the commission has improved on the voter accreditation process and the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
“There have been similar improvements in observer and media accreditation,” he said, adding that the commission’s capacity of election duty staff has improved with hands-on training for especially polling unit officials.
“As we approach the Ondo State governorship election, there will be further improvements, especially in the areas of logistics for the movement of personnel and materials to both land and riverine locations to enable the prompt commencement of polls as well as the management of the processes on election day from voting to declaration of result,” he assured.
Prof. Yakubu disclosed that a total 64,273 permanent voters’ cards (PVCs), out of 89,777 printed, have been collected by voters at ended of the exercise.
“This represents an impressive collection rate of 71.6 percent,” he added, and appreciated the CSOs for helping to mobilise registered voters to collect their cards.
He stated that in the next few days, the commission will upload to its website the cumulative figure of all PVCs collected in each of the 3,933 polling units across the state for the purpose of result management as provided by law and for public information.
Prof. Yakubu called on CSOs that were yet to submit reports for the Edo governorship election to do so in earnest.
“At the same time, I wish to remind you of your obligations as observers by complying with the commission’s rules of engagement for accredited election observers,” he said, and reiterated that INEC reserves the right to withdraw the accreditation of any individual observer or group that violates code of conduct for election observation.
“Even as we prepare for the Ondo State governorship election, the commission is not unmindful of its other electoral obligations,” he said.
