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Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC)
Chairmen and other Leaders of Political Parties
National Commissioners
The Secretary to the Commission
Other Senior Officials of the Commission
Members of the INEC Press Corps
Ladies and Gentlemen
I welcome you all to this meeting exactly one month since our last regular quarterly consultative engagement with you on Monday 29th July 2024. You may recall that at that meeting, the Commission informed you that before the forthcoming Edo State Governorship Election, we may invite you for further consultation when the need arises and if that happens, we hope that you will oblige us. Such a need has arisen, and I am glad that you have obliged us.
It is exactly 22 days (3 weeks and 1 day) to the Edo State Governorship election. Campaigns are in full swing and we have already implemented 10 out of the 13 activities listed in our Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election. The most recent activity was the presentation to political parties of the final register of voters containing details of the 2,629,025 registered voters for the election. This was done on Tuesday 20th August 2024 in our State office in Benin City. We are now left with three outstanding activities, namely the publication of Notice of Poll scheduled for Saturday 7th September 2024, the Last Day of Campaign by political parties which is Thursday 19th September 2024 and, finally, the Election Day which is Saturday 21st September 2024.
In addition to these statutory activities, we have intensified our engagement with stakeholders at State and Local Government levels. Similarly, voter education is ongoing. We have concluded the training of security personnel and we are finalising the delivery of the few remaining non-sensitive materials for the election. We are concluding arrangements with the land and maritime transport unions for logistics. The printing of triplicate copies of voters’ register for each of the 4,519 Polling Units in Edo State is virtually completed. The installation and configuration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to be deployed on Election Day is completed. Observer accreditation tags are being produced. The portal for media accreditation closes next week and so far, 88 media organisations have applied by uploading the details of 698 personnel (journalists, technicians and crew members) to cover the election. We will soon commence the training of various categories of adhoc staff.
Early this week, the Commission announced that out of 184,438 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) from the recent Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), 125,928 PVCs representing 68.3% of new cards were collected at Ward level in Edo State in just five days. This is the highest rate of collection of PVCs since the introduction of the CVR for off-cycle elections in the Bayelsa and Kogi State governorship elections in 2015. The Commission appreciates the role played by political parties and other stakeholders in mobilising new voters to collect their PVCs. Just yesterday, Wednesday 28th August 2024, the collection of PVCs resumed in our 18 Local Government offices in Edo State. This will last until Sunday 8th September 2024. We once again appeal to stakeholders for the same level of mobilisation so that we can achieve an even higher rate of collection. Detailed information on the locations of our Local Government offices in Edo State is available on our website. Hard copies have also been included in your folders for this meeting.
In the coming days, a number of other activities have been scheduled. On Tuesday 10th September 2024, the Commission will conduct a Mock Accreditation of voters to test-run the deployment of BVAS for the election as well as the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. Twelve Polling Units in six LGAs across the three Senatorial Districts of the State have been designated as centres for the one-day exercise which begins at 8.30am and ends at 2.30pm. Detailed information on the locations of the Polling Units for the exercise have been uploaded to our website. Hard copies are also included in your folders for this meeting.
After consultation with the National Peace Committee (NPC) under the leadership of our respected former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR, the signing of the Peace Accord for the Edo State Governorship election will take place on Thursday 12th September 2024 in Benin City. Supported by eminent members of the Peace Committee, the occasion will be presided over by the Chairman, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. You may notice that unlike the previous peace accords signed a few days to the election, it was decided to do so early this time around to enable the Peace Committee to monitor compliance with the code voluntarily signed by parties, candidates and other critical players in the electoral process such as INEC and the security agencies during the remaining days to the election. This will add further weight to the Peace Accord beyond mere ceremony as demanded by many observers and even some of the political actors themselves.
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.
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 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. 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.
However, 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.
The Commission is aware that you are in the middle of electioneering campaign in Edo State. I 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. Not for the first time, the Commission is once again enclosing in your folders for this meeting, the Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, Part 4 of which covers the conduct of political campaigns, rallies and processions for your compliance.
I welcome you once again to this extraordinary meeting. I thank you and God bless.
