INEC: Petrol Price Hike Will Not Affect Edo Election

*Police vow to protect electoral materials, begin mop up of illegal arms

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the recent hike in the price of petrol will not affect the conduct of the Edo State governorship election slated for September 21.
This is as the state police command has reassured the electorate that they would collaborate with other sister security agencies to ensure that all stakeholders, including electoral materials, are protected for a peaceful election.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, said this yesterday while fielding questions from journalists during the pre-election news conference in Abuja.

Oyekanmi said the commission was already meeting with officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on the new development.
“Well, first of all, I am aware that the commission, in the last couple of days, met with the officials of the NURTW to discuss this matter, and I’m sure the resolution was reached.
“Of course, when you are planning for an election, you have what is called contingency, because you don’t know what can happen. There could be changes and all of that.

“So, we don’t expect transporters to operate at a loss. If oil has gone up, for instance, and they now want some increment, this could be discussed.
“Like I said, I wasn’t part of the meeting, but the meeting was held, and I’m sure some agreements were reached.
“We have to conduct that election. So, I don’t think that will cause some problems,” he said.
On the commission’s preparations for Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs) participation in the exercise, Oyekanmi said INEC would continue to do its best for the PWDs to exercise their franchise.
He said that though the facilities, mostly public ones, such as schools, used for polling units, may not be purposely built for PWDs, the electoral officers had been trained to offer the needed assistance to them to cast their votes.
“Normally, our Presiding Officers are trained that when they see anybody in a wheelchair or anyone regarded as PWD, the person comes straight to the front of the queue, and Nigerians cooperate with us on that.

“For instance, the elderly people, people on wheelchairs, people with special needs, and physically pregnant people, not people who put something in their tummy, we give them that respect,” he said.
The CPS also said INEC had put measures in place to prevent cases of prefilled result sheets witnessed in Kogi from reoccurring in Edo or future elections anywhere in the country.
“I can assure you that the commission took active steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“In fact, our result sheets cannot be forged because they are custom-made. They have security features and nobody knows what those security features will be.
“So, INEC has been able to perfect that aspect, that if you go ahead and print result sheets, you have just wasted your time, because you will not have access to what we have and you will not be able to make use of it.

“Again, our resource management process takes care of errant behaviour like that,” Oyekanmi said.
He also assured Nigerians that it would not be possible to collate results in any polling unit where the election is not held in Edo.
“That’s not possible, because if an election is not held in a place, it has to be reported,” he said.

Oyekanmi said there was no polling unit with zero voters in Edo hence election was expected to be held in all the polling units across the state.
“All the polling units, over 4,500 of them will be used. So, no polling unit will not have voters.
“However, if an election does not take place because of one reason or the other, of course, the presiding officer must report that,” Oyekanmi added.

Meanwhile, the state police command has reassured the electorate that they would collaborate with other sister security agencies to ensure that all stakeholders, including electoral materials, are protected for a peaceful election.

The state spokesperson, Moses Yamu, quoted the Commissioner of Police, Nemi Iwo, as saying during a meeting with the chairmen of political parties and their respective governorship candidates that the aim was to ensure the security of the electoral process.

It added that it has commenced a mop-up of illegal arms and ammunition ahead of the election.

The commissioner appealed to them to prevail on their supporters to shun all forms of violence during the forthcoming election.

He assured them of adequate security to ensure that people go out to exercise their franchise without fear of harassment or any form of intimidation.

He solicited information that would assist the police to ensure an enabling environment for the election process.