Ahead of the Edo State governorship election slated for September 19, Governor Godwin Obaseki has assured residents of the state of adequate security before, during and after the election.
Obaseki gave the assurance on Wednesday night at a citizen’s townhall virtual meeting on voting amid COVID-19, with the theme “INEC policy on the conduct of 2020 Edo and Ondo governorship election”.
The meeting, organised by Yiaga Africa in collaboration with key stakeholders and Channels Television, had discussants and representatives from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Civil Society Organisation, Nigerian Medical Association, among others.
The governor said the security of lives and property of the people is one of the major priorities of his administration, explaining that the comprehensive security architecture in the state would cascade down to the communities where voting will take place.
“We are very cognisant of insecurity and have ensured we provide adequate security across the state utilising a comprehensive security architecture which incorporates vigilance groups in the local communities with our state Public Workforce Volunteer (PUWOV), who are under the guidance of the new community policing by the Inspector General of Police, who eventually report to the Divisional Police Officers in various LGAs,” Obaseki said.
“I am satisfied that we can provide the security required to conduct elections in Edo State. I have gone through this election process before; it was more heated in 2016 but no life was lost. Things will be more calm this time around because of the limitation of movement as a result of COVID-19 and most of the electioneering will be done electronically,” he said.
The governor also allayed fears of the electorate on the rising number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the state, assuring that the state government would continue to ensure full compliance with the use of facemasks.
He said the state was ready for the governorship election, adding that from the epidemiological survey the first round of COVID-19 would peak around the third week of June and, hopefully, there would be no recurrence before election in September.
“But we have done quite a lot of things to ensure we secure the health of our people. Our approach is to screen, test and treat our citizens. We have, perhaps, one of the largest testing capacities in the country today; we have three testing centres in Edo,” he said.
The governor said about 300,000 people have been screened in Edo in the last six to eight weeks and over 2,000 samples collected, which accounts for the very high number of reported cases.
“The important thing about what we are doing is we are being transparent, we are being upfront with the challenge and we are developing responses – isolation and treatment centres – to make sure we cope. But most importantly, we are emphasising on public enlightenment to transmit the message of precautionary measures in containing the spread of the coronavirus,” the governor said.
“Since we made the use of facemasks compulsory in Edo, we have made facemasks available for local government areas, religious organisations and different societies. We will still continue to ensure compliance because study shows that use of facemasks is an effective means of curtailing the spread of the virus,” he said.
Earlier, Samson Itodo, executive director of Yiaga Africa, said the meeting became necessary in order to build consensus with all relevant stakeholders on safeguarding public health and electoral integrity in the forthcoming governorship election.
Okechukwu Ibeanu, INEC national commissioner on logistics, disclosed that facemasks bearing insignia was part of the specific regulations the commission was considering. He said facemasks bearing insignia would not be allowed in the voting centres because it would constitute campaign materials.
Adele Jinadu, a professor of Political Science, emphasised on the need for the society to share responsibility with INEC.
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the opposition party in Edo State, will today (Friday) begin screening of all governorship aspirants ahead of its governorship primary elections in the state. The screening exercise is scheduled to hold at the NWC Hall, Wadata Plaza, Abuja, from 10am.
It was gathered on Thursday that about five aspirants have so far purchased nomination forms to run for the poll, although the opposition party is yet to officially release the number and names of the candidates gunning for the guber ticket.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party has, however, approved the constitution of a five-member committee to serve on the screening panel.
Austin Akobundu, national organising secretary of PDP, announced this in Abuja on Thursday, saying the screening committee is mandated to screen all aspirants for the upcoming 2020 Governorship Election in Edo State.
The committee is chaired by Kingsley Chinda, a member of the House of Representatives, while Boyele Debekeme is secretary.
Other members of the committee are Oladimeji Fabiyi, Joy Emordi and Hajiya Aishat Hasindu.
