Ahead of the Ondo and Edo States Gubernatorial elections, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has urged the security agencies to start security preparations very early as it was this proactive approach that led to the successful conduct of the last Governorship election in Edo State on 19th September 2020 and in Ondo State on 10th October 2020.
Professor Yakubu made the appeal at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) held at INEC headquarters, Abuja.
INEC boss who welcomed the ICCES members on a sad note, condole the Army and the armed forces in particular as well as other security, intelligence, law enforcement agencies, all other members of ICCES and families of the fallen heroes for the colossal loss after the gruesome killing of officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army on a peace mission in Delta State is condemnable. "We are confident that the ongoing investigation will lead to the speedy arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the heinous crime."
"In particular, the number of personnel and other assets to be deployed to strategic locations should be determined and mobilised early enough. There were no security incidents, materials were delivered promptly, logistics deployed smoothly, Polling Units opened on time, voters attended to efficiently and results collated and announced transparently."he added
He urged them to replicate the successful conduct of the last Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States. In fact, working together, we should ensure that the 2024 Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States are an improvement on the success story of 2020
"The Edo Governorship election will hold on Saturday 21st September 2024 while that of Ondo State is scheduled for Saturday 16th November 2024. We have just six months to the Edo State Governorship election and only eight months before the Ondo State Governorship election. The election in Ondo State will hold two months after Edo. It is therefore appropriate to acquaint you with the delimitation details to enable early preparations for security deployment.
"Both Edo and Ondo States have 18 Local Government Areas each. At the moment, Edo has 2,501,081 registered voters, 192 Registration Areas/Wards and 4,519 Polling Units while Ondo State has 1,991,344 registered voters, 203 Registration Areas/Wards and 3,933 Polling Units. However, the terrain differs in the two States. While there are a few riverine locations in Edo State, two Local Government Areas in Ondo State (Ese Odo and Ilaje) are predominantly riverine.
"For Edo State, 18 Political Parties conducted their primaries monitored by the Commission. They have since commenced the uploading of the list and personal particulars of their candidates to our dedicated web portal. The deadline is 6pm on Sunday 24th March 2024 when the portal automatically shuts down. So far, 12 Political Parties have uploaded the list of their candidates to the portal."he noted
