• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Edo poll: Wike, Okowa, Makinde urge eternal vigilance at collation centres

Edo election

Rivers State governor and national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council, Nyesom Wike, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde have called on the various stakeholders in Saturday’s Edo State gubernatorial election to ensure the collation centres are secured.

The governors, who spoke to journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Saturday commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the various security agencies for conducting what they called a peaceful election in the state, noting that the work is not over until the results of the election are released.

“The Edo election has been quite peaceful and I want to commend everybody for the peace we have enjoyed. Like I have always said, problems do not arise at election but during collation. So, we call on INEC to fulfill the promise it made to Nigerians that it will release the Edo election results at real time,” Wike said.

“We are very happy with the election so far. But you cannot find security presence at the ward collation centres. After results have been announced at polling units, we expect that police presence will be more at the ward collation centres. That is where we feel concerned now.

“We appeal to the Federal Government to mobilise security personnel to the various ward collation centres and the local government collation centres so that the people’s mandate can be protected,” he said.

The governors urged the people – the media, civil society organisations and voters – to be vigilant at this time and watch over developments at the collation centres.

Governors Okowa and Makinde also stressed the need to ensure that the success recorded in the voting process is extended to collation of results so that the PDP and Nigerians will commend INEC for a job well done.

“The people of Edo State have indeed spoken very loud and clear. We want the will of the people to remain sacrosanct and must not be subverted under any guise,” Makinde said.