INEC denounces killing of 17 soldiers in Delta State
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The horrific deaths of troops on a peace mission in Delta State’s Okuama Community have been denounced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.
The commission expressed its confidence that the current inquiry would result in the prompt apprehension and legal action against the individuals responsible for the horrible act.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the commission, made this statement on Friday during the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting, which was held at the INEC Headquarters in Abuja.
He said, “On behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I extend our condolences to the families of the fallen heroes for the enormous loss, as well as to the Army and the armed forces in particular, as well as other security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies, all other members of ICCES.”
Yakubu claims that the commission has been holding regular quarterly consultative meetings with stakeholders since the beginning of this week. He also claims that this meeting marked the second one with the security agencies this year.
Speaking to the committee, he stated: “You may remember that we convened exactly two months ago, on January 23, 2024, to examine the security plan for the nationwide byelections and court-mandated rerun elections in 48 federal and state seats.
“The elections are over, the victors announced, with the exception of two state seats in the states of Enugu and Kano. We are gathering again to wrap up the unfinished elections that thugs tampered with. After more discussions with the security agencies and others, this will be completed shortly.
“We will strategize ahead of our remobilization for the two elections during our meeting with the security authorities today. The two off-cycle governorship elections in the states of Edo and Ondo are, of course, the main events on the electoral calendar for this year. The Commission announced the election calendar and program of events in September of last year.
“Ondo State’s gubernatorial election is set for Saturday, November 16, 2024, while the Edo governorship election is set for Saturday, September 21, 2024. The Edo State governorship election is in six months, and the Ondo State governorship election is in eight months.
“Two months after Edo, Ondo State will conduct its poll. Therefore, in order to facilitate early security deployment preparations, it is important to familiarize you with the delimitation information.
“The states of Edo and Ondo each contain eighteen local government units. Currently, Ondo State has 1,991,344 registered voters, 203 registration areas/wards, and 3,933 voting units; Edo has 2,501,081 registered voters, 192 registration areas/wards, and 4,519 polling units.
But the two states have different topography. While there are a few riverine localities in Edo State, Ese Odo and Ilaje, two local government areas in Ondo State, are primarily riverine.
Eighteen political parties held their primaries in Edo State under the Commission’s observation. Since then, they have started posting the list and the candidates’ personal information to our exclusive website.
The deadline is Sunday, March 24, 2024, at 6 p.m., when the portal will automatically close. Twelve political parties have published their candidate lists to the site thus far.
“In the following two weeks, political parties in Ondo State will start their primaries. As of right now, seventeen of the nineteenth parties have expressed interest in running in the election.
It’s critical to begin security precautions as soon as possible. Specifically, it is important to decide and mobilize the quantity of people and other resources that will be sent to key sites in a timely manner. This proactive attitude was the reason for the successful holding of the most recent governorship elections in Ondo State on October 10, 2020, and Edo State on September 19, 2020.
“There were no security incidents, timely delivery of supplies, seamless logistics deployment, timely opening of polling places, effective voter assistance, and transparent collation and announcement of results.”
“Let’s try to accomplish the same successfully as the previous governorship elections in the states of Edo and Ondo. In fact, by banding together, we should make sure that the gubernatorial contests in Edo and Ondo states in 2024 build upon the triumph of 2020.
“More interactions at the national and state levels with the security services and other ICCES participants will take place in the coming months. We are excited about your initiatives to safeguard the conditions necessary for INEC to hold elections in a successful manner.
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