The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it has distributed all sensitive materials for the Saturday’s Edo State governorship election to all the various local government areas in the state.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, said Thursday night after the meeting of the commission’s management meeting that agents of the political parties involved in the election as well as those of the accredited Observer Groups observed the distribution of the sensitive materials.
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“All sensitive materials for the said election have left the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Benin City for the various Local Government Areas in the State. The Commission implores all the relevant stakeholders to continue to observe the distribution of the sensitive materials as they are moved further down the chain to the Registration Area Centres (RACs),” Okoye said.
Speaking with journalists in Benin, Edo INEC Head of Voter Education and Publicity Timidi Wariowei, said that the distribution commenced with the farthest local government areas of the state.
By Thursday morning, materials for 11 local government areas were loaded for transport, beginning with Akoko-Edo, Etsako Central, Owan East and Owan West.
“Some have gone and others are completely loaded and are sorting out their security escort and very soon materials will move to all the local government,” he said.
Ondo bye-election
Speaking on the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State, the INEC official said that as a result of the disruption of normal processes in the electoral process due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission could not get the full complement of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members required as ad hoc staff for the Ondo election.
He said that this led the commission to broaden its net to recruit the required ad hoc staff from tertiary institutions.
“However, the NYSC authorities recently informed the commission that they are now in a position to mobilize more corps members for the Ondo State Governorship Election. Meanwhile, the portal for the recruitment of ad hoc staff for the said election had closed since 21st August 2020.
“After due consideration and to restore the corps members to their role in the electoral process, the commission has decided to allow the recruitment of these additional NYSC members only. A special link to the registration form has therefore been provided to NYSC authorities to be used for this purpose,” he said.
Outstanding bye elections
Okoye said that the commission had earlier announced 31st October 2020 as the date scheduled for all outstanding bye elections holding in 14 Constituencies across 11 states.
According to him, of all these bye elections, six are to fill vacancies in Senatorial Seats and eight are to fill vacancies in state constituencies.
He said that while all the 18 existing political parties gave notices of participation, only the Boot Party, conducted primaries but did not collect the Access Code for submission of the list of nominated candidates.
“Another political party, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), conducted primaries, collected the Access Code for nomination of candidates but made no submission. Two political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) submitted nominations for all the constituencies being contested.
“The remaining 14 political parties nominated candidates in some Senatorial Districts and some State Constituencies,” Okoye said.
According to him, by the time table and schedule of activities issued by the commission, political parties conducted their primaries between 24th August and 8th September 2020 while the submission of the list of nominated candidates ended at 6pm on 13th September.
“Today, 17th September is the last day for the publication of Form EC9 and the final list of candidates for the bye elections scheduled for 31st October 2020.
“In accordance with Section 31(3) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), the commission has published the list of nominated candidates in their respective senatorial districts and state constituencies. We urge individuals, political parties and interest groups to visit the INEC offices in the senatorial districts and constituencies.
“Any person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by a candidate in the affidavit and any other document submitted by that candidate is false may file a suit at the Federal High Court, High Court of a state or the FCT against such person, seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false.
“If the Court determines that any of the information contained in the affidavit or any document is false, the Court shall issue an order disqualifying the candidate from contesting the election,” Okoye said.
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