Edo Decides: Don’t wait at polling units after voting – Police tell voters

The Nigeria Police Force has asked the people of Edo State to return home immediately after voting rather than wait for the counting of the ballot.

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Research and Planning, Adeleye Oyebade, who is to coordinate election in Edo State, said this on ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ programme on NTA on Friday.

He said, “It is better to come, do what you want to do, and go home; because some people will be kept behind bars and we will do proper investigation and diligent prosecution of offenders that we will apprehend.”

Oyebade said aides to VIPs had been withdrawn until after the poll.

He said the police would remain neutral during the exercise and vowed to arrest any political thugs.

Oyebade said movement remained restricted and advised any traveler planning to pass through Edo State to take an alternative route.

The DIG urged the candidates who signed the peace accord to make sure that they abide by the terms of the agreement.

However, the Manager, Training, YIAGA Africa, Paul James; said people were free to remain within the polling units to monitor their votes, adding that this would ensure the integrity of the election.

He, therefore, urged the police to let people remain within the polling units after voting.

Usually, voters wait at polling units after casting their ballots and take part in the counting of votes to ensure that there is no rigging.

Contributing to the debate on the programme, the Director, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Nick Dazang, said the commission had introduced a dedicated online portal known as ‘INEC Result Viewing’ that will enable Nigerians to view results from polling units in real-time on election days.

He said the system was tested during the Nasarawa Central state constituency bye-election last month and it worked fine.

The INEC director said, “But what we have done is that you can do that (monitor) electronically. We have set up a portal that will be open tomorrow. All you need to do is to log into that portal and you can view real-time the outcome of the voting of all the polling units in Edo State.

“In Edo, we have made provision for not less than two million people to view it simultaneously without any glitches.”

The INEC official said voters must come to polling units with their face masks.

He, however, warned persons wearing face masks that bear the logos of political parties not to come to polling units.

Dazang stated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, card readers would be disinfected after each use.

He further stated that provisions had been made for voters to wash their hands before and after casting their ballot.

Meanwhile, 14 political parties have presented candidates for Saturday’s election in the South-South state but the real contest is believed to be between Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Four years ago, Obaseki and Ize-Iyamu were the leading contestants in the election. But both candidates have since switched sides with Obaseki moving from the APC to the PDP – after he fell out with his political benefactor and former national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole – and Ize-Iyamu moving from the PDP to the APC

Though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that there are 2,210,534 registered to vote in the state, only 1,726,738 of them who have collected their permanent voters’ cards (PVC) are eligible to vote in today’s election.

Newsflash247 will be bringing you updates on the election as it happens from the 18 Local Government Areas, 192 Wards, and 2,627 polling units in the state.

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