Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has visited Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, to hold a stakeholders meeting ahead of the forthcoming gubernatorial elections.
He urged all the gubernatorial candidates to abide by the rules and regulations in order to ensure a smooth conduct of the polls in the state.
Kogi state has always been a state prone to violence during elections, and is the INEC chairman has deemed it necessary to visit the state thirty-six
days before the governorship elections.
Professor Mahmoud Yakubu’s first port of call was the electoral body’s office in Konton Karfe, to complete all preparations and avoid the
recurrence of previous mistakes which may affect the credibility of the elections.
There are 16 INEC personnel in with 53,590 registered voters, 11 registration areas, 68 polling units and 32 voting points.
The INEC boss directed that the polling units must be opened by 8 am on Election Day, and each of the twenty-six thousand Adhoc staff would receive a letter of appointment, and a detailed breakdown of their allowances.
It was on to the stakeholders meeting where Mahmood Yakubu urged the candidates to mind their actions and utterances during and after the
election so as not to incite supporters into violent behaviour.
He also warned against vote-buying by candidates both in cash and kind on the day of elections as it won’t be tolerated.
The Police on their part pledge that security will be provided for all aspirants, and warn that aspirants whoborganize their own personal armies
to cause mayhem, won’t be tolerated.
Aspirants from various political parties make their own contributions about what should be put in place to ensure succes in the conduct of the
elections
The election is scheduled to take place on the 16th of November 2019 and about 25,000 police officers will be deployed for the Kogi state elections.
