The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Sunday, September 15, that it was committed to delivering a free, fair, and credible off-cycle governorship election in Edo state come September 21.
National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee of the Commission, Sam Olumekun, told The Nation that the Commission will not be distracted by any baseless allegations as it is well focused on the task ahead.
He was responding to a question on the allegation by the Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state, Anthony Aziegbemi that the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, and REC, Prof. AnugbumOnuoha as well as INEC Director of ICT at both the state and national level have been settled to the APC to support its rigging plans.
He also alleged that many of the ad-hoc staff recruited by the Commission to preside over the election over election were card-carrying members of the APC who would be deployed with the mandate to ensure that the APC won the election.
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Responding to the WhatsApp message, Olumekun said: “The commission is focused and committed to delivering free, fair and credible election, as such the public is advised to discountenance wild and baseless allegations including postponing the election.
“We advise Parties, candidates, and the general public to focus on truthful information as the people of EDO State shall decide the choice of their Governor in the forthcoming election.
“We also solicit the cooperation of the media to investigate these needless allegations and report facts rather than fiction by interested parties.”
The campaign for the governorship election is expected to end on Thursday, September 19.