INEC Worries over Safety of Officials, Candidates, Others in Edo, Ondo Elections

•Okpebholo says he doesn’t require outlandish grammar to fix state

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-City and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed concern about the safety of its officials, candidates, agents, supporters, observers, journalists, service providers and voters, among others, at the pending governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Tuesday at the third regular quarterly consultative meeting with civil society organisations (CSOs).

This was as the Edo State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo, has said he did not require outlandish grammar to fix a state urgently in need of a ‘panel beater’ to address its deplorable state, broken infrastructures  and restore its lost glory.

However, Yakubu, who urged the CSOs to intensify advocacy for peaceful elections, including engagement with stakeholders, said campaigns by political parties and candidates were already in full swing in both states.

“The Commission finds the recent event in Edo State resulting in the death of a security personnel worrisome. Happily, there has been no incident known to the Commission since then.

“Nevertheless, the Commission will meet with the security agencies as early as Friday this week under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES). I want to assure you that security in Edo and Ondo will be a major issue for discussion at the meeting.

“We are as concerned about the safety of candidates, agents and supporters as we are about the security of our own officials, observers, journalists, service providers and, above all, the voters,” he said.

Meanwhile the APC governorship hopeful who made the declaration in an apparent reference to his critics, who in a derogatory manner described him as a ‘panel beater’, said he didn’t require outlandish grammar to tackle insecurity, provide functional health care, fix dilapidated roads, respect traditional institution and revamp the collapsed educational system.

Okpebholo, who spoke at a media interactive sessions with members of the Edo State Correspondent Chapel, in Benin-City, said under his watch his administration would immediately declared a state of emergency on insecurity, adding that he didn’t really need a manifesto to understand how to deal with the multifaceted problems and sufferings inflicted on the state by the present government in the state.

He also challenged Governor Godwin Obaseki to give account of the huge monthly allocation, security vote and Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR) the state has received in the almost eight years of his administration.

“If elected by the special grace of God come September 21st, my job is to do things differently and restore Edo State to it lost glory. Therefore, we need a courageous leader that will do things rightly for the benefit of Edo people,” he said.