INEC Assures Edo Poll Will Hold Peacefully, Calls Parties to Sign Peace Accord

As a way of carrying out a peaceful election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said the 14 political parties participating in the governorship elections in Edo state scheduled for September 19 would sign a peace accord in the coming days.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, represented by his Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, who said this on Monday, added that the commission expressed optimism that with all such efforts, the election would be held peacefully.

He said this during a webinar on Edo and Ondo elections, organised by the Executive Director of International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade, and the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria.

Arogundade stated that the main duty of journalists during elections is to be off assistance in relaying the information that citizens will require to make informed choices.

“It is a duty we must not abdicate but which we have to undertake with the utmost sense of professional responsibility so as to set the appropriate pubic interest agenda as far as elections in Edo and Ondo states are concerned”, he said.

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The event had as its theme ‘Edo/Ondo elections: The Imperative of Safety Consciousness and Conflict Sensitivity in Media Coverage and Reportage.’

According to Oyekanmi, INEC was ready to conduct the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states scheduled for October 10 despite drumbeats of war as “all the logistics needed for the election have been taken care of.”

He said, “As we approach the Edo governorship election, it is clear that the people of the state and Nigerians as a whole are very concerned about what will happen on election day. We have all been hearing the loud drumbeats of war from political actors. There have been accusations and counter accusations. Just like everybody else, the commission is deeply concerned.