Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Alarmed by the threats of violence in the upcoming governorship election in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is to hold an emergency meeting today to discuss the matter.
INEC’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this yesterday, expressed worries over the drums of war among the political parties involved in the state governorship election.
Speaking to journalists after meeting with stakeholders in the Nasarawa State House of Assembly election in Nasarawa, Yakubu said the commission will hold an emergency meeting of the Election Management Body (EMB) today to discuss the threats of violence.
“We are worried about the threats of violence and luckily the Election Management Board will meet tomorrow (today) over this and we may likely summon the political parties campaign councils over this,” he said.
Yakubu said that Saturday’s State House of Assembly election in Nasarawa State would be used as a test to see the level of preparations by the commission to implement COVID-19 election protocols it had developed for use in the Edo and Ondo States’ governorship elections.
The INEC chairman added that voters without a face mask would not be allowed to vote.
He urged voters to avoid wearing branded face masks as such voters would not be allowed to vote.
The INEC chairman urged the voters to lower their face masks for ease of identification by approved officers.
After inspecting voting materials for the state constituency election, Yakubu said that the Saturday election is going to be the first election to be conducted by INEC within the COVID-19 era.(ThisDay).