Edo LG poll: EDSIEC declares readiness, deploys 9,000 officials

The Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) has declared its readiness for Saturday’s local government election, saying it has concluded all legal, administrative and logistical preparations required to conduct a credible, peaceful and inclusive exercise across the state’s 18 local government areas.

Chairman of the commission, Jonathan Aifuobhokhan, disclosed this on Thursday during a media briefing in Benin City, where he said the election would take place simultaneously in all councils, covering every ward and the state’s 4,519 polling units.

According to him, months of planning have enabled the commission to put in place the operational framework needed to deliver an election that complies with the Constitution, relevant electoral laws and globally accepted democratic standards.

Aifuobhokhan said all sensitive and non-sensitive election materials had been produced, inspected, sorted and packaged for distribution to EDSIEC offices across the state. He added that special logistics had been arranged for riverine and hard-to-reach communities to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded from the electoral process.

To support seamless operations, the commission said it had completed transportation arrangements for election personnel and materials through the deployment of hundreds of buses, utility vehicles, motorcycles and boats, while contingency plans had also been developed to address unforeseen logistical challenges.

The EDSIEC chairman disclosed that over 9,000 ad hoc personnel, including supervisory presiding officers, presiding officers, returning officers and collation officers, had been recruited and trained on accreditation, voting procedures, vote counting, result collation, conflict management, election security, professional ethics and disability inclusion.

On election security, he said the commission had held extensive engagements with security agencies to ensure adequate protection for election officials, voters, observers, media practitioners and electoral materials throughout the exercise.

He added that communication systems had been strengthened across the state with technical support teams positioned for prompt coordination on election day, while continuous consultations with political parties and other stakeholders had helped improve preparedness ahead of the poll.

Aifuobhokhan urged eligible voters to participate peacefully, reject violence, vote-buying, intimidation and misinformation, noting that accreditation and voting would commence at 8:30 a.m. and close at 2:30 p.m., although voters already in the queue before closing time would be allowed to vote.

He also announced that movement would be restricted across the state from 6:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on election day, while results would be declared at the respective collation centres upon completion of the process.

Further disclosed that accredited political parties participating in the election include APC, AA, Accord Party, Action People’s Party (APP), AAC, ADP, NNPP and ZLP, among others, adding that more than 40 domestic election observer groups had already been accredited, with additional applications still under consideration.