Edo Guber Poll: INEC charges observers on need for prompt application
By Tunde Opalana
As the Edo State governorship election inch closer, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised civil society organisations (CSOs) to submit their applications for election observation in earnest.
The Commission said the application should be submitted along with the required supporting documents and a realistic number of individual observers.
The Chairman of INEC who pleaded this at a quarterly consultative meeting with leaders of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at the INEC headquarters on Tuesday, said doing so will enable the Commission to produce and deliver the identity cards for observers in good time.
He categorically stated that the Commission will not entertain requests outside the deadline for the receipt of applications from interested observer groups or process applications that do not meet the criteria.
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“For emphasis, submission of reports from previous accreditation in the manner required by the Commission is mandatory for continuous participation in election observation. Since our last meeting two months ago, many accredited observers have submitted their reports but a few are yet to do so. We urge you to do the needful. Your reports are important for us in reviewing and improving our processes and procedures,” he said.
Prof. Yakubu intimated the CSOs with plans by the Commission to conclude the outstanding re-run elections in Enugu South 1 State Constituency of Enugu State and Ghari (formerly known as Kunchi Local Government Area) for the Ghari/Tsanyawa State Constituency of Kano State. We similarly briefed you on the forthcoming off-cycle Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.
The chairman as well said that INEC has concluded plans to resume the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the Edo and Ondo states to enable eligible citizens who are not registered voters to do so.
He added that the CVR will take place simultaneously in the two states from Monday 27th May 2024 to Wednesday 5th June 2024, between 9.00am and 3.00pm daily including the weekend.
“The Commission therefore appeals to CSOs to join us in mobilising prospective registrants for the exercise, particularly on the need to register early and not wait until the deadline approaches when the registration centres will be inundated by eleventh hour registrants.
“Again, we seek for the support of CSOs in encouraging voters to locate and pick up their PVCs as was done in the past,” he added.
For the Edo governorship election, he said campaign in public by political parties has commenced on Wednesday 24th April 2024 and will end at midnight on Thursday 19th September 2024, which is 24 hours before the date fixed for the election as provided by law.
“We look forward to your monitoring reports of the campaigns as some of you have done in the past,” he concluded.
