THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced the deferment of the Edo State governorship election by two weeks.
INEC’s National Commissioner, Price Solomon A Soyebi, said the decision to postpone the election was reached at a security meeting held in Benin, the Edo State capital this evening.
INEC made the announcement made at exactly 8:00pm, during a press conference in Benin, Edo State.
The election had earlier been scheduled for Saturday September 10, 2016. It will now hold on September 28.
The Commission’s statement on its twitter handle had literally dismissed the advice by the Police and Department of State Service,DSS.
The security agencies had urged the Commission to postpone the election because of some terrorist threats.
The Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services had on Thursday appealed to the INEC to postpone the Edo governorship election scheduled for Sept. 10, citing security threat.
Force Spokesman, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Don Awunah, who made the joint call on behalf of the police and the DSS in Abuja, said the call was necessitated by a credible intelligence available to the agencies indicating plans by insurgent and extremist elements to attack vulnerable communities and soft targets.
Awunah said that Edo was among the states being earmarked for the planned attacks by the extremists between Sept. 12 and 13 respectively. He said that while election was important, security agencies cannot allow the peace of the country to be disrupted. ”
We will continue to be vigilant and ensure consolidation of the successes gained in the current counter-insurgency fight. “It is in these regard that we we are appealing to INEC which has the legal duty to regulate elections in the country to consider the need for possible postponement of the date of the election,” he said.
