This weekend, Edo State will go to the polls to elect a successor to Governor Adams Oshiomole but there are fears that violence may mar the polls. Already, the Department of State Services (DSS) and Nigerian Police Force have asked for a postponement of the elections and Inec has decided to meet to consider this.
Inec spokesman Rotimi Oyekanmi, said that the commission's national commissioners are already in Benin City, the Edo State capital, for the meeting to consider the security agencies’ request. Citing security concerns, the DSS Director-General, Lawal Daura and the inspector general of police Ibrahim Idris, had advised Inec to consider shifting the election to a future date.
Mr Oyekanmi added: “As regards the position of the police and state security agencies, we like to say that we were not informed and therefore not part of that decision in Abuja. Nobody told us, the Inec chairman is here along with all the national commissioners and we were not informed about it as we just heard the news like every other person else.”
Inec expressed surprise at the advice and said it was unaware of any security threat to the election, particularly when it had just been assured by the Inter-Agency Security Committee on the ground in Benin City, , that all was well. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main challenger in the contest, has also opposed the proposition by the security agencies, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to put them in check.
According to the security agencies, however, Edo State was one of the states targeted by extremist elements for attacks around the proposed election date. They said similar threats were made during the Labour Day and Democracy Day celebrations in May as well as the Ed-el-Fitr holidays in July 2016 but the security agencies were able to disrupt and thwart the insurgents’ plan.
Comments
Post a Comment