Chidi Samuel
A day after The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) vowed to go ahead with the scheduled gubernitorial election in Edo state scheduled for Saturday 10th of september, the electoral has made a dramatic u turn by postponing the election by two weeks.
INEC announced the decision after a meeting with security officials in Benin, the state capital, Thursday evening.
Citing security reasons, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police had advised the commission to shift the poll, but the commission said it was “97 percent ready” for the election, and there was no going back.
“After carefully weighing all the consequences and parameters of postponing the Edo governorship election as advised yesterday by spokespersons of the Police and Directorate of State Security (DSS), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has decided to go ahead with the conduct of the election as scheduled for Saturday, 10th September 2016,” INEC’s director of voter education, had said in a statement.
“Except the actual conduct of the election, the commission has scrupulously implemented all the items listed in the Timetable And Schedule of Activities for the EDO governorship election which it issued in March this year.”
The candidates in the scheduled election and their parties were yet to react to the latest development as at press time.