Ahead of the September governorship election in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr Johnson Alalibo Samikiem has disclosed that a total number of one million, seven hundred and thirty five thousand, nine hundred and ten permanent voters’ cards have been collected, while four hundred and eighty three thousand, eight hundred and sixty eight are yet to be collected.
Speaking to newsmen after a closed-door meeting in Benin city, the state capital, Dr Samikiem said the inter-agency consultative committee on election security meeting with heads of the various security agencies in the state was necessary as part of ways to synergize.
While giving a breakdown of the total number of permanent voters’ cards collected so far, he said the 2019 election register will be used for the Edo State 2020 Governorship election.
“For now, the Commission has no plan on carrying out the continuous voter registration, we are going to use the data from the 2019 register,” he said.
The REC also appealed to the various key players in the Edo politics not to see the governorship election as a do or die exercise, which he said was the foundation of election violence.
“Election is not a do or die exercise, Edo people should come and vote in their choice, they should remember that there is life after election, so as a Commission we expect the voter to comport themselves in a manner that speaks positively,” he added.
