We can't shift Edo guber poll - INEC

The Independent Na­tional Electoral Com­mission (INEC) has turned down the request of candidates sitting for the West African Examination Council (WAEC) examina­tion on Saturday that the Edo State governorship elec­tion should be postponed.

The commission said it would go ahead with the election even though it clashes with the conduct of Mathematics by WAEC.

In an interview with The AUTHORITY on Tuesday, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi said the commission would go ahead with the election because it followed duly the provisions of the Electoral Act before it fixed the Sep­tember 10 date for the poll.

Oyekanmi, who cited Section 26 of the Elector­al Act to back the commis­sion’s decision, insisted that rather than blame INEC for the clash in the date, WAEC officials should be held responsible because the timetable for the election has been in the public domain for four months now.

 

He pleaded with both the candidates and WAEC to un­derstand the condition of the commission, stressing that there is nothing INEC would do to postpone the election since it has put in place all the logistic arrangements for the poll.

Oyekanmi said: “The Electoral Act provides all the conditions under which INEC must conduct elec­tions, and that is what we have relied on in everything we are doing about Edo State. The first thing is that we have to give notice of election and in doing that we involved all the stakeholders.

“The Electoral Act (Sec­tion 26) also gives conditions under which elections can be postponed, which include strict security challenges like it happened during the for­mer commission under Prof. Attahiru Jega in 2015 when former President Goodluck Jonathan was in office. Then the election was postponed because the Army and other security agencies noted the serious security challenges which they said they could not guarantee,” he said.

Oyekanmi further ex­plained that there was a se­curity meeting at INEC two weeks ago which in­volved all the security agen­cies, adding that the com­missioner of police in Edo state briefed us, saying that he had a meeting with the state office of WAEC where they agreed that because the state would be locked down on the day of the election, the candidates would not be able to access their cen­tres; so WAEC should find a way of relocating those can­didates to the neighbouring state to have their examina­tions. Being an internation­al examination, we expected that WAEC would have made that decision a long time ago or changed their time table.”

Also yesterday, putting the students in a dilemma, the West African Examina­tions Council (WAEC) said it would not shift the date for its mathematics examination as it would go ahead on Sat­urday

 

 Nigeria almost out of economic recession, says Buhari

 

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has as­sured Nigerians that the cur­rent economic recession in the country will soon be over.

Buhari gave the assurance at the All Progressives Con­gress (APC) governorship campaign rally of Mr. Godwin Obaseki at the Samuel Ogbe­mudia Stadium in Benin City.

He said the Federal Gov­ernment will continue to en­sure the stability of the coun­try’s economy, noting that the state has not witnessed the kind of development it has experienced since its creation under Governor Adams Os­hiomhole.

The President took time to visit the Crown Prince and Oba-elect of Benin Kingdom, Edaiken N’Uselu, Eheneden Erediauwa, in his palace.

The monarch told the President of his forthcoming coronation on September 26, 2016 and invited him to the event.

He also informed Buha­ri that notable African mon­archs have indicated their in­terest to attend.

The President accepted the invitation to attend the coro­nation of the new Oba later in the month as he recalled the personal relationship he had with the late Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, who was a federal Permanent Sec­retary in the early 1980s when Buhari was Head of State.

Buhari recommended Obaseki to the people of the state, saying he is a technocrat and will do well in office.

Also, the Chairman of the APC National Campaign Council, Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State, joined other supporters to welcome President Buhari to the state. He urged the people to vote for Obaseki because he is test­ed and trusted.

Present at the grand fi­nale rally were the governors of Sokoto, Kogi, Kebbi, Ni­ger, Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Ogun, Kano, Katsina states; Ministers of State for Petro­leum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Min­ister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and the Minister of Sci­ence and Technology, Dr Og­bonnaya Onu.