Edo Guber: INEC Seeks Stakeholders Cooperation For Successful Election
From Imafidon OSAZUA (Benin)
The National Commissioner in charge of planning, monitoring and strategy, Prof. Rhoda Gumus, has said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) needs the collaboration of all stakeholders to ensure the success of the September 21 governorship election in Edo state.
Gumus, who stated this at an Election Risk Management workshop for stakeholders in Benin, said election is a complex and enormous undertaking which cannot be done in isolation.
She noted that the idea behind the workshop is to expose participants to INEC electorial risk management, identity internal and external risk factor associated with the conduct of the election.
She said: "The Electoral Risk Management sensitization workshop seeks to expose participants to the INEC Electoral Risk Framework, identify internal and external risk factors that may be associated with the conduct of governorship election in the state and to develop mitigating strategies.
"The conduct of elections in every clime is a complex and enormous undertaking which cannot be done in isolation; it requires financial resources, wide variety of human expertise in diverse areas, varying layers of engagements, consultations, planning and eventual implementation.
"The INEC constitutionally is saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections, it unequivocally needs the cooperation of security management bodies and other relevant stakeholders to achieve the conduct of a successful election.
"The interplay of environmental dynamics is recognized as either negatively or positively impacting an election by security experts from all ideological spectrums; thus, implying that elections do not exist in a vacuum.
"Threats or risk that impede the successful conduct of elections emanate from the environment and are directly or indirectly linked to the legal, operational, technical, political, socio-economic and security situations prevailing in a country, peculiarly in transitional democracies."
Also, the National Commissioner in charge of outreach and partnership, Prof. Kunle Ajayi, said everyone must be concerned about security during elections and prevention of security breaches by identifying flash points.
He noted that the commission has confidence in the security agencies to manage election risk/violence were it may occur, adding, "We know that the security agencies can use their expertise to provide adequate security before, during and after elections.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Anugbum Onuoha, stated that the ability to manage risk during election would lead to the conduct of a free, fair and credible election.
The state Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye said his men were ready to provide adequate security on election day, noting sensitization of the police officers started long ago.
