(INEC) has insisted that the Edo State
governorship election will go on as planned.
The electoral body’s decision was announced on
Wednesday by the INEC National Commissioner
in charge of Voter Education
Solomon Soyebi.
He spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting in Benin
City, the state’s capital in south-south Nigeria.
Mr Soyebi was responding to the advice by the
police and the Department of State Services
(DSS),
asking INEC to postpone the election scheduled
to hold on Saturday over security concerns.
He said the commission had just been informed
of the advice and would have to study it before
any decision would be taken on it.
The police and the DSS had said that the advice
was based on credible intelligence at their
disposal, which suggested that insurgents were
planning to attack vulnerable communities and
soft targets with high population during the
forthcoming Sallah celebrations between
September 12 and 13.
The agencies highlighted Edo State as one of the
states that have been earmarked for these
planned attacks.
In a joint statement, they reminded the public
that similar threats were earlier issued during the
Labour Day and Democracy Day celebrations as
well as the Eid-el-Fitr holidays in July, 2016.
Earlier on Monday, some candidates of the West
African Examination Council (WAEC) writing the
General Certificate Examination (GCE) in Edo
State demanded for a shift in the date of the
governorship election.
The election is scheduled to hold on September
10, but the students are asking the electoral
body to postpone it
.
Some of them staged a protest at the
Government House in Benin City, the capital of
Edo State, with placards emblazoned with their
demands.
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