•30 parties to run
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has concluded arrangements to ensure a successful governorship election scheduled for November 26 in Ondo State.
It added that the final list of candidates of political parties running for the election will be published on October 26.
This is in accordance with the electoral timetable, which gives 30 days’ allowance.
Its Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Olusegun Agbaje, who briefed reporters yesterday on the preparations for the poll, said 30 political parties will be participating.
They are the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African People Alliance (APA), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP).
Others are Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and National Unity Party (NUP).
The list include Better Nigeria Progressives Party (BNPP), Young Democratic Party (YDP), Accord (A) All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Alliance (AA), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and KOWA Party (KP).
The rest are People for Democratic Change (PDC), Independent Democrats (ID), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), National Conscience Party (NCP), United Democratic Party (UDP), United Progressive Party (UPP) and Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD).
Agbaje, who commented on the crises within the APC and PDP over the authentic names of candidates, said there was still opportunity for substitution of candidates used as surrogates for leverage.
He said: “We are working round to ensure that no stone is left unturned for the successful conduct of the election in line with all relevant laws and international best practices.
“We have successfully conducted the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which was heralded by adequate preparations.”
Agbaje gave the number of polling units as 3, 000, registration areas (203), local government areas (18), number of registered voters (1,545,079) , number of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) received in the state (1,531,771; before 2016 CVR).
He said the PVCs collected by their owners are 1,200,693, adding that the number of PVCs yet to be collected as at August 8 are 331,078.
Agbaje said that the commission would make use of 3, 009 presiding officers and 9,029 assistant presiding officers I, II and III for the election.
He said going by the scheduled timetable, party campaigns for the election have taken off and open politicking is gathering momentum.
He urged politicians and contestants against inflammatory comments capable of igniting political tension that could threaten peace.
The REC called for issue-based and peaceful campaigns. He reeled out various penalties for electoral offences as ranging from N1 million or conviction for 12 months’ imprisonment or both.
Agbaje noted that the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) has been resuscitated.
The committee members are security chiefs in the military and paramilitary agencies such as the Army, Navy, Police, Department of Security Service (DSS), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and others.