The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday in Benin, monitored the commission’s mock accreditation exercise ahead of the September 21 governorship election in Edo.
The mock accreditation exercise took place at two polling units in Oredo and Ikpoba-Okha local government areas of the state.
Speaking shortly after the mock accreditation monitoring and inspection of INEC local government offices , Yakubu said mock accreditation was intended to test run the integrity of the systems ahead of the election.
Yakubu stated that the visit to Edo was a routine activity the commission undertook on the eve of a major off-cycle election.
“This is a readiness assessment visit to Edo and the purpose is to visit some of the local government areas.
“We have visited Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha and Egor local government areas to assess the readiness in terms of the level of preparation, the materials received so far and how they are preparing for the election in the next 11 days.
“We have already visited two centres to observe a mock accreditation exercise intended to test-run the integrity of our systems ahead of the election, both for voter accreditation as well as uploading of the results.
“We have observed, and so far, so good in terms of readiness of our local government offices for the election and also in terms of the technology we are deploying for the election, INEC is ready,” he said.
He assured the public of a free, fair and credible election, adding that INEC was not a political party.
“The responsibility of choosing the next Governor of Edo State is entirely in the hands of Edo voters.
“Our appeal to all registered voters in Edo is to come out to vote for the party and the candidate of their choice.
“The commission will ensure the protection of the integrity of the process and uphold the choice made by the electorate,” he added.
He expressed satisfaction with the level of preparation by the local government offices in the three offices visited.
He added that he would be meeting with the electoral officers in all the 18 local government areas, with a view to harvesting all their concerns and responding to them ahead of the election.
He used the opportunity to appeal to all stakeholders, including the security agencies, the political parties, candidates, observers and media to cooperate with the commission, stressing that election was a multi-stakeholders’ activity.
He noted that funds needed for the conduct of the Edo elections had been made available to the state and the state had made the funds available to the local government areas.
Speaking further, the INEC chairman explained that there was enough backup of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to be deployed for the election in case any malfunctioned.
“We have inner backup. For instance, all the machines we used for the mock in 12 polling units across three senatorial districts in Edo would not be used for the election.
“So, the BVAS machines to be used for the election are different from the BVAS for the mock. Similarly, the BVAS that are going to be used for training will not be deployed for the election.”
According to him, for the off-circle election, there are enough BVAS to go round.
The chairman was accompanied on the inspection among others by Dr Anugbum Onuoha, Resident Electoral Commissioner, Edo and Prof. Rhoda Gamus, the National Commissioner, supervising Edo, Delta and Bayelsa.
