Peace Accord Holds September 12 In the preparatory mood, ahead of the Edo State off-cycle governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its intention to organise a Mock accreditation exercise that will take place on September 10 to test BVAS deployment and result uploads. The election will be held on September 21
Peace Accord Holds September 12
In the preparatory mood, ahead of the Edo State off-cycle governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its intention to organise a Mock accreditation exercise that will take place on September 10 to test BVAS deployment and result uploads. The election will be held on September 21
The Commission also stated that the signing of the peace accord which has become customary before an election will be held on September 12, 2024, in Benin City.
Speaking today at a meeting with political parties held in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu gave these updates on preparations for the election and explained that the Mock exercise would help to test all the functionality of the electoral materials and gadgets before the election day.
Professor Yakubu also explained that the signing of the peace accord organised in collaboration with the National Peace Committee aims to ensure a peaceful and credible electoral process, adding that the process was brought earlier to enable the Peace Committee and other relevant stakeholders to monitor compliance with the code signed by parties and their candidates.
“After consultation with the National Peace Committee under the leadership of our respected former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR, the signing of the Peace Accord for the Edo State governorship election will take place on Thursday, September 12, 2024, in Benin City. Supported by eminent members of the Peace Committee, the occasion will be presided over by the Chairman, General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
“You may notice that, unlike the previous peace, accords signed a few days before the election, it was decided to do so early this time around to enable the Peace Committee to monitor compliance with the code voluntarily signed by parties, candidates, and other critical players in the electoral process such as INEC and the security agencies during the remaining days to the election.
“This will add further weight to the peace accord beyond mere ceremony as demanded by many observers and even some of the political actors themselves,” Yakubu stated.
With just 22 days remaining until the election on September 21, 2024, the chairman outlined that INEC has completed 10 out of 13 planned activities.
“It is exactly 22 days (3 weeks and 1 day) to the Edo State Governorship election. Campaigns are in full swing and we have already implemented 10 out of the 13 activities listed in our Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election. The most recent activity was the presentation to political parties of the final register of voters containing details of the 2,629,025 registered voters for the election. This was done on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, in our State office in Benin City.
“We are now left with three outstanding activities, namely the publication of Notice of Poll scheduled for Saturday, September 7, 2024, the last day of the campaign by political parties which is Thursday, September 19, 2024, and, finally, the election day which is Saturday, September 21, 2024.
“Key preparations such as installing Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines and printing triplicate copies of the voters’ register for all 4,519 polling units in Edo State are completed.
“In addition to these statutory activities, we have intensified our engagement with stakeholders at State and Local Government levels. Similarly, voter education is ongoing. We have concluded the training of security personnel and we are finalising the delivery of the few remaining non-sensitive materials for the election.
“We are concluding arrangements with the land and maritime transport unions for logistics. The printing of triplicate copies of voters’ registers for each of the 4,519 polling units in Edo State is virtually completed. The installation and configuration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines to be deployed on Election Day is completed.
“Observer accreditation tags are being produced. The portal for media accreditation closes next week and so far, 88 media organisations have applied by uploading the details of 698 personnel (journalists, technicians, and crew members) to cover the election. We will soon commence the training of various categories of ad-hoc staff.”
