…Registers 1, 924, 072 voters
From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has released names of 19 candidates for the forthcoming governorship election.
In a statement by Secretary to the Commission, Mrs Augusta C. Ogakwu, the candidate that emerged at the primary election conducted by the Senator Ahmed Makarfi caretaker committee, Pastor Ize Iyamu featured prominently along with 18 others nominated by various political parties.
Among those listed include Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Onaiwu Osaro of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and Paul Ofemile of Action Alliance (AA).
Section 34 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) made it mandatory for the Commission to publish names of candidates, 30 days to the conduct of election.
Meanwhile, a total of 1,924,072 persons have been registered as eligible voters for the election by the electoral body.
The INEC announced this in Benin, capital of Edo State yesterday. It explained that the figure comprises 132,559 persons captured during the Continuous Voters Registration exercise in June and 1,791,513 voters registered prior to the 2015 general elections across 2,627 polling units.
The INEC however disclosed that over 400,000 voter cards were yet to be collected.
The National Commissioner (South-South), Dr. Muhammed Lecky, disclosed this during the presentation of the official register of voters in Benin, explaining that the number of registered voters during the CVR dropped from 136,038 to 132,559, indicating that some individuals attempted multiple registrations and were purged from the system.
He also explained that the occupational distribution of the total figure showed that over 500,000 of the voters were students while housewives constituted the lowest number of voters.
The national commissioner, who later presented copies of the voters register to representatives of the political parties said the distribution of PVCs from the CVR exercise and transfer cases would be announced soon.
Lecky explained that while INEC would sustain ongoing efforts to make the election free, fair and credible, a conducive and violence-free environment was a prerequisite for a conclusive exercise.
“No election is worth the life of a human being and we take the safety of our staff and all stakeholders very seriously.
“The commission will never conduct or conclude any election that has not met the minimum threshold of credibility under our laws”, he said
In his speech, Edo State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, and Chairman of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, said distribution of registered voters across 18 local government areas was an integral part of plans by security agencies to ensure a peaceful exercise, adding: “it has also great implication for security.
“We have seen where the votes are and they, obviously, are going to be part of what we consider to map out or flash points.
“So, we will be discussing it much later at the security level and bring in assets and skills to ensure that we have a good election come September 10”, he added.