The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the COVID-19 pandemic may disenfranchise voters in the September 19 governorship election.
INEC Head of Voters Education and Publicity Mr. Timidi Wariowei expressed this concern yesterday in Benin.
He said the commission had not carried out the continuous voter registration exercise as well as the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the election.
Wariowei spoke at a roundtable on the governorship election organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development in Benin.
The theme of the roundtable is โIssue at stake and their implications on the conduct of credible electionโ.
He assured the electorate that INEC was ready to conduct a credible poll.
Wariowei noted that preparation had begun for the exercise, while fund was never the problem.
โThe need to protect the people against the pandemic is placed above other interests.
โThe continuous voterโs registration would have taken care of those that have attained the age of 18 after the last exercise and those that were unable to register for one reason or the other during the exercise.
โThe COVID-19 pandemic didnโt allow us to also carry out distribution of the PVCs.
โWe donโt want to be accused unnecessarily or seen to be undermining the people, but for their own protection,โ he said.
Wariowei said despite the challenges, election must be conducted in the state to avoid constitutional crisis.
He said the poll would be conducted by following the precautionary measures and maintaining social distancing by avoiding mass contact.
According to him, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines have been mainstreamed into the guidelinesโ provided by the commission for the conduct of the governorship election.
โEvery voter at the polling units must wear a face mask. If you donโt have face mask, you must at least have something to cover your nose and mouth to be allowed to vote.
โThere must also be a distance of two metres or six feet between each voter on queue at the polling units.
โWe will provide alcohol-based disinfectants to be used to disinfect the card reader after every accreditation during the poll.โ
Announcing that 14 parties met the deadline for the submission of their candidates, he said training had begun for some officers that would participate in the conduct of the election.
He said training for supervisory presiding officers and collation officers would be the last to be done a week before the poll.
Another participant, Mr. Asunogie Nurudeen of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, advised INEC to ensure that a credible, free and fair poll is conducted in Edo.
