By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the signing of the Peace Accord for the election will take place on Thursday, September 12, 2024, in Benin City.
The electoral body said that it arrived at the date after an interface with members of the National Peace Committee (NPC), so that they can have ample time to monitor compliance before the election.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu made the disclosure when the Commission hosted the leadership of all the political parties at the Commissions headquarters on Thursday.
He said, “The signing of the Peace Accord will be preceded by the INEC Stakeholders meeting to be held on Wednesday 11th September 2024 in Benin City. As usual, the meeting will be addressed by the INEC Chairman and the Inspector-General of Police. It is an open forum for political parties, candidates, observers and the media to interact with the Commission and the security agencies ahead of the election.
“I therefore urge you as leaders of political parties to note the dates for the INEC Stakeholders meeting and the signing of the Peace Accord and mobilise your State Chairmen and candidates to participate”.
He urged the party leaders to comply with the digital procedure of uploading agents of their political parties saying there is no going on manual accreditation though he pointed out that the quality of already uploaded images were not clear.
“Let me now turn to a matter that requires your urgent attention, i.e. the nomination of polling and collation agents for the Edo State governorship election. Some of you here may recall that in consultation with the political parties, we replaced the manual process for the submission of the list of agents with a digital platform.
“After harvesting the details of polling and collation agents uploaded to the portal for the Edo State election, we discovered that there are compliance issues with regard to the quality of uploads, particularly as they relate to the images of Polling Unit, Ward and Local Government agents.
“This problem cuts across all political parties despite the fact that this is not being done for the first time. And in keeping with our practice before major elections, we trained officials nominated by political parties. We also set up a Help Desk in the event of any political party needing assistance.
“I want to emphasise that there will be no going back to the manual process. It is gone for good. Already, observer groups and media organisations are in full compliance with the digital procedure. Political parties cannot be an exception. You must do the needful instead of constantly complaining of shortfalls in the number of accreditation tags supplied for your agents.
“We will only produce tags for uploads that meet the requirements of our regulations and guidelines. The Commission is determined that your agents at Polling Units and Collation Centres must be identified by name and their photographs clearly printed on their accreditation tags duly authorised by the Commission. We have also added a QR Code to each tag for easy authentication and verification of your agents at the polling and collation centres. Matters arising from the recent uploads will be discussed at this meeting.
“We have done the same for accreditation of observers and media organisations in consultation with the stakeholders. On our own, we have also replaced the manual process of recruiting ad hoc staff with a digital platform called the INECPRES. All these activities are now done electronically on a number of dedicated portals. This has simplified our processes and reduced costs for all stakeholders”, he added.
The INEC Chairman urged all the players to continue to carry out campaign activities according to INEC guidelines. He noted that no party has submitted any notice to the electoral empire on the date of their mega rally.
“We urge you to continue to maintain decorum and civility in your campaigns and fully comply with the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of rallies and processions. So far, no political party has submitted to the Commission the dates and locations of your major campaign rallies and processions but some of you are quick to complain of incidents when they occur. Doing so will enable a better coordination of your campaign activities”.
Also in his remarks, the Inter Party Advisory Council (Ipac) National Chairman, Yusuf Mamman Dantalle urged INEC to use the Edo election to restore the confidence of the people on Democracy and the sanctity of the ballot box.
“As leaders of political parties, this is our chance to restore confidence in the electoral process by ensuring the sanctity of the ballot box, and respect the mandate of the people. After 25 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria, we must get it right this time.
“The good people of Edo State are willing to come out en masse and vote for their next governor if the environment is conducive and their votes will count in the overall result. That is where the challenge is, and where IPAC will collaborate with other stakeholders including INEC – the electoral umpire, security agencies, election observers and the media to ensure that all votes are counted and reflect the wish of the electorate.
“The success of the election will drastically reduce post-election litigations and reinforce trust and confidence in the electoral process, thus, bolster voter turnout. It will also save the Judiciary from undue intervention and interference in the declaration of the winner of an election. On 8th August 2024, IPAC organised its First Roundtable on “The Role Of The Judiciary In Nigeria’s Democratic Sustainability”, in Abuja, a communique was issued thereafter to chart the way forward in the nation’s jurisprudence. IPAC will continue to intervene in crucial national issues as we strive to build a better society.
“The Edo State gubernatorial polls will be a litmus test for the Ondo State governorship election scheduled for Saturday 16th November 2024, which in turn gives direction to future elections in the country”, he said.
