Political Briefs
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THE Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Edo State, Sam Olumekun, has threatened to resign if there was any proof that he compromised on Wednesday, September 28, governorship election.
Olumekun, who spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting in Benin, insisted that the electoral body postponed the election because there was no security cover for electoral officials.
The REC denied allegations that the electoral body was out to do the bidding of a particular party and urged political parties to go out and convince people to vote for them.
He enjoined politicians not to turn the state to a theatre of war because of the election.
Olumekun informed the political parties that the commission would on Monday, September 26, begin distribution of sensitive materials for the conduct of the governorship election.
He urged political parties to send their agents to the Central Bank of Nigeria in Benin City to monitor the distribution of the materials. He, however, warned that only those authorised to be at the CBN were security operatives, party agents and collation officers.
Olumekun noted that the presence of party agents at the distribution venue was to make sure that the ballot papers were not tampered with.
Similarly, Haliru Abubakar Gwandu, the new Police commissioner in Edo, debunked the PDP allegations that he was in the state to do the biddings of a political party.
Gwandu promised to provide a level playing field for all political parties and appealed to political parties to eschew violence and intimidation of electoral officials and ad-hoc staff.
He urged the people to stop seeing election as a do-or-die affair, adding that those who would want to invite thugs from neighbouring state should shun the act as security men would be on ground to foil their plans.
— Oct 3, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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