The Situation Room, a coalition of over 20 civil society groups, on Friday said it was “deeply dismayed” at the postponement of the gubernatorial elections in Edo State.
The Independent National Electoral Commission announced on Thursday that the election, previously scheduled to hold on September 10, would be postponed until September 28 in line with the recommendations of security agencies.
The Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service had said on Wednesday said they could not guarantee the security of electoral officers and the state’s electorate if INEC went ahead with the exercise. The development has earned INEC and the security agencies widespread criticism from Nigerians.
The Situation Room described the postponement as “part of a disturbing trend in the erosion of public trust in our public officers, public institutions as well a growing skepticism about the general direction of our democracy under this administration.”
In a statement by Clement Nwankwo of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, Situation Room said the security agencies preempted INEC when they unilaterally announced their lack of readiness and made a mockery of the “constitutionally guaranteed independence” of the electoral body.
“This unfortunate chain of events raises some serious questions about a possible breach of the constitutionally guaranteed independence of INEC, the growing overreach of Security Apparatchiks who effectively in this election have forced their own electoral timetable on INEC, the good people of Edo State and by extension citizens of this country,” the statement said.
“We join the pain of the good people of Edo State over this unwarranted assault on democracy.”
Meanwhile, INEC has said that the postponement of Edo governorship election by two weeks would not affect the credibility of election in the date, even as the commission disclosed that it had already paid 19,000 staff for the botched exercise, and would have to pay them all over again.
INEC Deputy Director for Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Nick Dazang, said on Friday in Abuja that the commission was committed to ensuring that the election did not in any way fall short of previous elections.
He said that the commission had already confirmed its readiness for the election in terms of preparation, adding: “what was outstanding was merely the last stage, which is implementation.
He said: “We are prepared in terms of staff needed to conduct the election and adequate training including accreditation for the observer group; both local and foreign, that will monitor the election.
“We have also started accrediting journalists that will cover the election. We have also done much in terms of sensitisation of the voters, political parties and their candidates.”
“The postponement of the election does not in any way change our preparedness for the election, neither has it changed our resolve to conduct free, fair and credible election.”
Asked on the lost the commission might incurred due to the postponement, Dazang said that INEC would no doubt incur additional cost; especially in some areas like mobilisation of staff.
He said, “We are calling back about 19,000 staff, we have to pay them again and we might consider retraining them ahead of election, so that they remember some of the things that we have taught them. That is money.
“We have to pay them for the allowances. We have to pay them allowances for coming back to conduct the election.
“We might have to reprint one or two of the sensitive materials to reflect the new date.
“Thankfully as at the time our attention was called to the advisory, we have not distributed some of the materials.”
He, however said that the additional cost to be incurred would not in any way affect the conduct of the election as the commission always made provision for such contingency.
Dazang added that the commission would continue to engage with the security agencies to ensure that the election was peaceful on the rescheduled date.
He said, “We will also continue to engage with the security agencies in the conduct of future elections.”