The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended the election for Esan North/Esan South/Igueben federal constituency
and rescheduled it for March 11.
Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman stated this while briefing journalists on the situation reports about the ongoing Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Yakubu said the decision is sequel to the absence of the logo of one of the political parties in the contest on the ballot paper but only acronym.
“I will also like to say that in Edo state, we have a situation that we handled yesterday. One of the parties whose acronym is on the results sheets but the logo is not on the ballot paper in a federal constituency, after a meeting with the stakeholders, the decision was taken, since the materials are intact, to countermand the election.
“So, we have suspended the election for Esan North/Esan South/Igueben. The ballot papers will be reprinted and the election will now hold along with the state constituency elections on March 11, that is in the next two weeks.
“We are determined that no Nigeria should and would be disenfranchised. We have been responding to some of the situations as they arise and we are going to do overnight,” he said.
Yakubu said the commission have lost additional three three Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in Ayamelo in Anambra state but they have recovered by contingency arrangements to respond to any such attack.
He said: “Unfortunately, we continue to lose some of the BVAS devices. I reported in the morning, the loss of devices in Delta and in Safana local government area of Katsina state.
“But unfortunately, we also lost three BVAS machines in Ayamelo in Anambra state, but we have recovered from all these losses because we have contingency arrangements to respond to any such attack.”
The INEC chairman disclosed that normacy has been restored in some parts of Abia, Imo, Kebbi and Lagos state and election was going smoothly where there were issues initially.
“There were issues arising from the commencement of the process in Abia, in Imo and in Kebbi among other places. I am happy to say that the process is right now ongoing in Abia. The polling units will remain open well beyond the appointed hour until the last person on the queue before 2:30pm votes.
“In Imo, the process is ongoing except a few areas or polling units marked by his insecurity and thuggery spread across seven local government areas. The situation in Kebbi State is stable, voting is going on, mainly in Birnin Kebbi. But earlier it affected Birni Kebbi and a part of Argungu.”
Yakubu said the process was disrupted in Bayelsa state, particularly in the capital in Yenegoa where in four wards – ward 4, 6, 8 and 14 involving 141 polling units but the situation has been brought under control.
“W remobilised security, the situation is calm for us to proceed, but the Youth Corps members express some apprehension of going back. So we met with the security agencies, and we have decided that voting in these 141 polling units where the materials are actually intact will take place tomorrow morning.
“Remember, we are not only doing presidential election, but we are also doing senatorial federal constituencies. So is good as much as possible to recover and conduct the election so that we can conclude the processes.
“So the Youth Corps member members who are going to serve as presiding officers and other categories of ad hoc staff are agreeable to the election holding in these locations tomorrow.
“In Lagos, we have been closely following the situation in Okota, Mafoluku, Oshodi and Elegushi. We have been able to normalize the situation in a number of places including Ikate where voting is ongoing. So, we keep our eyes on the processes in the other areas I have mentioned,” he added.
The chairman said INEC had taken a proactive step in middle of the election by meeting with the Inspector General of Police, the National Security Adviser and the Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC.
He said the idea is to strengthen security as it moved to the next stage of the election which is the collation of results in places where voting has been concluded in the polling units.
According to Yakubu, polling units in a large number of areas have closed and the commission started the counting of ballot papers.
While expressing satisfaction with the BVAS, he said: “in earlier briefing I said that the technologies optimally performed, generally speaking nationwide. This the first deployment in a major national election and the technology has given a good account of itself.”
Yakubu noted that though INEC has lost ballot boxes, but it appears that the target of thuggery is now the BVAS, saying INEC will continue to protect the process and proceed courageously to conclude the election in a very free, fair and credible manner.
