… Visits Ondo For Assessment
Sam Philip
Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on Monday disclosed that the commission has learnt lesson from the Edo State gubernatorial election in September.
He promised that the commission would bring to bear what she learnt in the September poll in terms of election results management and arrival of election materials at the Polling Units.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this in Akure, while addressing newsmen at Akure Airport on his arrival in the state for the assessment of the preparation of the commission for the November 16 off-circle gubernatorial election in Ondo State.
He disclosed that he was in the state to see the level of the preparation by himself and to have interface with stakeholders in the state ahead of the election in order to have a free, fair and credible election in peaceful environment.
The INEC boss also would witness the mock accreditation of voters in the 6 selected polling unit, two in each Senatorial District, on Wednesday, this week, organized by the commission.
He said: “We have received positive reports from our state office in Akure but we decided also to come for readiness assessment.
“So, we are here basically to look at what is happening, the good work that the state office has done, we are going to meet with the stakeholders including political parties, civil society organisations, the media, security agencies and we are also going to meet with our staff to assess our readiness. We will be here for a few days.
“One of the activities we are also going to observe is the mock accreditation of voters which will take place in 16 polling units across six local government areas in the three senatorial zones of the state.
“In addition to other activities, we are also going to meet with the stakeholders on Thursday, and the following day, the National Peace Committee will als invite all the stakeholders for the signing of the National Peace Accord.”
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, therefore, assured the people of Ondo State that election materials would arrive at all polling units early and the election results would managed properly.
He said: “We have learnt a lot of lessons not only from the last election but also previous elections. Basically, there are two challenges, the first one is logistics for election, so that polling units open promptly on election day.
“The second one is result management and my assurance to voters in Ondo State is that they are going to see fast improvement in these two processes.”