….Says Three Parties Yet To Submit Names
Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu has urged political parties that are participating in the forthcoming Edo State governorship election to stick to the 30 July deadline for uploading the names of their polling agents for the election.
He also said three political parties are yet to submit a single name, while five others have not uploaded a single agent for ward, local government, or state collation centres.
The Chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yakubu said this at the third regular quarterly consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja on Monday.
He expressed surprise that 24 hours before the automatic shutdown of the portal, three political parties had yet to upload the details, urging them to meet the deadline to enable the Commission to produce the accreditation tags and deliver them in good time.
“As the Edo State governorship election approaches, I wish to remind leaders of political parties of your obligation to submit the list of your agents by uploading the required information, including photographs, to the dedicated portal.
“This requirement is listed as item nine on the timetable and schedule of activities for the election released by the Commission nearly a year ago on 26 September 2023.
“As of Sunday, 28 July 2024, 14 political parties have uploaded the details of 38,354 polling agents and 819 collation agents for the Edo State governorship election.
“Three parties are yet to upload a single polling agent, while five parties have not uploaded a single agent for ward, local government, and state collation centres.
“The deadline is Tuesday, 30 July 2024, when the portal automatically shuts down at midnight. I urge you to ensure that you meet the deadline so that the Commission can produce the accreditation tags and deliver them to you for distribution to your agents in good time,” he said.
Speaking further, he stated the Commission’s readiness, explaining: “It is now 53 days to the Edo State Governorship election coming up on Saturday, 21 September 2024.
“Our preparations are ongoing in earnest. I am glad to report that we have recovered from the torrential rainfall that resulted in the severe flooding of our State Headquarters in Benin City two months ago.
“The damage to the physical infrastructure has been fixed. Vehicles have been repaired, while other movable and immovable facilities have been serviced, refurbished, or are being gradually replaced. We have delivered additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to Edo State for the training of election duty personnel, as well as contingency for Election Day support.
“We have since published the final list of candidates, but we are once again sharing the list with party leaders at this meeting in view of the recent Court Order mandating the Commission to replace the running mate of the candidate of the Labour Party. The amended list is already published on our website,” Yakubu said.