By NefishetuYakubu
Benin – The Independent National Electoral commission(INEC) in Edo on Monday promised to prosecute violators of electoral laws during the 2019 general elections.
Mr Emmanuel Alex-Hart, the Edo Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC), announced this at an interactive session with traditional rulers in Benin.
Alex-Hart said the commission had concluded plans to work with the security agencies to deal with violators of electoral laws during the 2019 general elections.
“We want to reassure Nigerians that we are aware of the new tricks. it is a futile effort. We will work with the security agencies to deal with the violators of our electoral laws.
“This includes those who may be trying to compromise our staff responsible for making the PVCs available for collection by legitimate voters,” he said.
The commissioner disclosed that the commission had made arrangements for those who are yet to collect their PVCs to do so from Jan. 16 to 21 at designated centres in their wards.
According to the commissioner, after Jan. 21, the collection of PVCs will revert to the commission’s local government offices where registered voters can collect them up till Feb. 8.
He also explained to the traditional rulers that the final register for the 2019 general elections stood at 84,004,084 voters, adding that the same register would be made available in all polling units nationwide on election day.
Alex-Hart thanked the royal fathers for their support and encouragement so far.
He said that the build up to the general elections was quite tasking, adding that with the support of stakeholders, especially royal fathers in the state, INEC had been able to weather the storm
The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II who was represented by Chief sam Igbe, welcomed stakeholders to the interactive session and prayed for the successful conduct of the elections(NAN)