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Tag: Inec

  • Edo election postponed by two weeks

    Edo election postponed by two weeks

    The Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday resolved to postpone the Edo State governorship election by two weeks.

    The decision to shift the the election was taken at a security meeting held in Benin, the state capital.

    The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu and a national officer of the commission will address a press briefing on the matter shortly.

    The spokesman to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, confirmed the postponement, saying Nigerians should await briefing on the matter.

     

  • Update: Edo Governorship election to hold as scheduled – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday said the Edo State governorship election would go ahead as scheduled.

    The INEC National Commissioner in-charge of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Solomon Soyebi, stated this at a press conference held at INEC’s office in Benin,  the state capital.

    Soyebi said INEC as the body statutorily set up to conduct elections in the country would not take orders from any institution on its constitutional duties.

    “We have therefore weighed all the consequences of a postponement in the election and have resolved to go ahead with the conduct of the election on Saturday as scheduled,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the INEC official as saying at the briefing.

  • INEC resolves to hold Edo governorship election on Saturday

    INEC resolves to hold Edo governorship election on Saturday

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has resolved to hold Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.

    The Nation learnt that the decision to go ahead with the election was taken Thursday morning after a meeting with stakeholders and consideration of the security report.

    A reliable source said a statement confirming that the election will hold as scheduled will be issued later today.

    Details later

  • Edo poll: INEC to meet DSS, police before decision

    Indications are emerging that the Edo governorship election scheduled for Saturday may be shifted following security advice.
    Though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was yet to take a decision on the matter after a crucial meeting with all the political and state actors, the Commission has assured Nigerians that its independence will not be compromised.
    The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi in a text response to an inquiry by our correspondent stated, “We have just met again with the stakeholders where various pieces of advice were given by them.
    ” INEC then decided that it would be necessary for it to consult with both the DSS and the Police that issued a  statement earlier Wednesday to find out what informed their decision to issue that statement. Thereafter, INEC will take a decision that will be communicated to all Nigerians. However, the Commission wishes to assure all Nigerians that its independence will not be compromised.”

  • Security report: INEC convenes stakeholders’ meeting on Edo poll

    Following the advice from security agencies that the Edo State governorship election slated for Saturday be postponed, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has convened a stakeholders’ meeting in Edo State.

    Attending the meeting are leaders of political parties, civil societies and traditional rulers.

    The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, told the gathering which was convened impromptu, that the call for postponement of the election has nothing to with the preparation for the poll.

    Prof. Yakubu said INEC has made all necessary arrangement for a successful election.

    The INEC chief said he would meet with security agencies for more details about the threat and how it will affect the election.

     

  • PDP faults ‘security advice’ to postpone Edo poll

    The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as shocking, bizarre and confusing, purported advice by the Department of State Service (DSS) and the police to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.

    A statement issued on Wednesday by the spokesman of the Caretaker Committee of the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the advice was predicated on purported security threats during the poll.

    The party expressed surprise that the said security alert was coming a day after President Muhammadu Buhari visited Benin City, the Edo State capital for the All progressives Congress (APC) mega rally, where there was no incidence of security breach.

    The statement said, “Our attention has been drawn to the shocking breaking news of the advice by the DSS and the police to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the Saturday, September 10, 2016 gubernatorial election in Edo State over insurgency alert.

    “We are taken aback by this advice, coming a day after the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, was present at the mega rally of its party, the APC in Benin City which was concluded without any hitch.

    “It is on record that INEC recently conducted a ‘hitch free’ senatorial bye election in Borno State, which is a high-point of insurgency in the country but the security agencies saw no reason to call-off the election.

    “It is therefore lamentable to hear from these same security agencies that the election cannot be held in a state where in less than 24 hours, the President and the APC leaders and members had an uninterrupted rally.

    “We are calling on the President, Muhammadu Buhari to caution the security agencies and direct them to provide full security and also desist from doing anything that will jeopardise this forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State.

    “We are equally counting on INEC not to succumb to this false alarm by acting independently and holding election as scheduled.”

  • Edo: INEC yet to receive security report

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday said it was yet to receive a formal report from the security agencies, calling for postponement of the Edo governorship poll.

    The INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said the commission plans to go ahead with the election because  it is yet to receive any report from security agencies.

    Osaze- Uzzi said, “We haven’t received any formal report to that effect.  So we are proceeding as if election was going to take place. It is when we receive a formal report that we will consider whether to continue with the election or not. But for now we have not received any formal report. So we are going ahead. But we believe they will inform us formally and we can then take a decision on the matter.”

  • Edo polls: WAEC relocates candidates to Delta, Ondo

    Edo polls: WAEC relocates candidates to Delta, Ondo

    The West African Examination Council (WAEC) on Tuesday said it has secured examination centres in Agbor, Delta state and Ore in Ondo state for candidates writing the General Certificate Examination (GCE) on Saturday,  September 10 in Edo state.

    It will be recalled that Edo state governorship election is expected to hold on the same day secondary schools students in the state are expected to sit for their mathematics paper.

    This is just as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) confirmed on Tuesday that it would go ahead with the poll as planned despite protest from secondary school students who called for a shift in the date of the election to allow them write their papers.

    INEC through the Chief Press Secretary to the chairman of the commission, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, also said it would not be involved in the relocation of the candidates.

    It added that the idea to relocate candidates to other states for examination is purely the responsibility of the state government, adding that INEC would not compensate any candidate.

    The Head, Public Affairs for WAEC Nigeria, Demianus Ojijeogu, who spoke with our reporter in Abuja yesterday, said the council would go ahead with the examination on that day.

    Ojijeogu also stated that WAEC would not be responsible for the relocation of the candidates to the two states, adding that the council is hoping the state government would assist with the relocation of the candidates.

    He added that WAEC officials would be on ground to conduct the examination for candidates who would be at the venue of the examination.

    “We went to Agbor, we have already secured venue. We went to Ore in Ondo state to secure exam centres for them. So that is where we are. Yes we have. Agbor in Delta state and Ore in Ondo state. We have secured centres already.

    “No. It’s our belief that the Edo State Government being the guardian of the candidates can make such an arrangement & also provide security for them.

    “If push comes to show, we will go and wait for them. Our exam officials will be in Ore in Ondo and Agbor in Delta state in the centres designated for that exams on that day. Those that come we will conduct exams for them but we still believe that something is going to happen between now and tomorrow,” he said in a text message sent to our reporter.

    He explained that WAEC wrote a letter to INEC to allow the candidates and WAEC officials free movement on the day of the examination after proper accreditation.

    According to him, the request was turned down for security reasons, adding that the police insisted on restriction of movement on that day.

    He said: “We wrote to INEC headquarters in Abuja and copied the state INEC in Edo state, copied the commissioner of police alerting them that our mathematics paper is clashing with the election.

    “Our view was that they should exempt our examination officials who will be properly accredited and candidates who will also be identified, they should grant them exemption from the restriction of government on that day so that they can write the paper because the subject is a core subject. It is mathematics.

    “The next thing we got a reply from INEC and even the commissioner of police inviting us for a meeting in Benin City. That was on august 25th. I was at the meeting and then when we got to the meeting we discovered that they had already met on the level of inter-agency consultative committee on election in edo state and trashed our issue that WAEC should relocate the candidates to states that is closer to Edo state.

    “We told them that this thing is not workable. Because one, research has shown that when you move candidates from where they have prepared for exams to another state or where they have been writing exams to another location if affects them psychologically.

    “On Wednesday, on the 29th of august we got a letter INEC sent to us saying that the commission in liaison with the security operating in Edo state after our joint meeting with officials of the organization advised WAEC to relocate the candidates to any state that are… to Edo state. This position is borne out of the fact that movement of every Nigerian living in edo state will be restricted on the election Day and such security arrangement cannot be compromised.

    They said that they cannot grant our request for the exemption of examination functionaries and candidates from any movement on the day of the election so we were left with nothing. There is nothing else to do. The exam must be conducted. It is an international exam in the sense that the paper will be written in the Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, as well as in Nigeria at the same time.

    “We have one other thing to do since they don’t want a gathering on the election day because they said it will compromise election security for the sake of these children let us move these centres to neighbouring states- delta, and Ondo.

    “We are also pleading with the government. We are expecting that the government can shift ground and say okay, since there will be free movement on that day for eligible voters that the candidates can also be allowed to go and write the exam as long as they are properly identified. We are still expecting that to happen.”

  • No going back on Edo poll, says INEC

    No going back on Edo poll, says INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said the Edo State governorship election will hold on Saturday as planned.

    The electoral agency noted yesterday’s  protest by students who complained that the poll will clash with the General Certificate Examination (GCE) organised by the West African examination Council (WAEC).

    INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu’s media aide Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, who spoke on telephone, said the commission, the political parties, security agencies and other stakeholders were ready for the poll.

    He said while the INEC sympathised with the affected examination candidates, the poll cannot be shifted because the stage is already set.

    Oyekanmi recalled that during the last stakeholders meeting in Benin City, the state capital, involving INEC officials, security agents and representatives of parties, the Edo State Commissioner of Police raised the issue.

    He said: “There was a security meeting attended by the stakeholders. The Edo State Commissioner of Police who briefed the meeting said the WAEC would have to move its candidates outside the state. It is an election day and there will be restriction of movement. Free movement cannot be permitted because we don’t have to allow room for problems. The police was in contact with the WAEC. But, as at last week, the WAEC had not got back to the police.

    Oyekanmi explained that although polls were shifted in the past under the Jonathan administration, the reason given by the top security personnel was insecurity.

    He said if the poll is shifted, the commission will have to contend with bigger implications, adding that the guidelines, security arrangements and the implementation of the electoral law may be affected.

    Oyekanmi stressed: “The election cannot be shifted. There are bigger implications as well. Politicians may begin to accuse the INEC of a hidden agenda. We have the electoral law we have been following. We have a time-table we are implementing. INEC, security agencies, parties and other stakeholders are set. I sympathise with the candidates for examinations. It is a very difficult situation.”

     

  • INEC accredits 44 observer groups for Edo poll

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has accredited 44 observer groups for the September 10 gubernatorial election in Edo.

    The INEC Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Prisillia Sule, confirmed this in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Saturday.

    Sule said the commission accredited 37 domestic observer groups and seven foreign observer group that would participate in the poll.

    The spokesperson, however, urged all the accredited groups to deliver credible and reliable information to members of the public during and after the election coverage.