Dr.
Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, chairman, Transition Monitoring Group Thursday faulted
the call by security agencies on the Independent National Electoral Commission
to postpone the Edo state governorship election.
She described the call for the postponement of the election as
suspicious.
It could be recalled that Wednesday this week the police and DSS
at a press conference in Abuja called on INEC to postpone the Saturday
September 10 governorship election in Edo state.
The security agencies sited threats by insurgents and extremists
as the reasons for the call.
But, Akiyode-Afolabi said “the advice by the DSS to postpone the
Edo 2016 election is suspect and one must be quick to say that it is coming
rather late, especially because the election will take place in less than 72
hours,”
Her words: “One would have expected that such advice would have
been issued earlier. Such announcement, close to election, could also trigger
apathy by voters and capable of building tension in the state, which can lead
to electoral violence, which they are supposedly trying to prevent.”
The Peoples Democratic Party, which expressed shock at the call
rejected it and urged INEC to do the same.
But as at the time of filling this report, there are strong
indications that INEC may ignore the call by the security agencies and continue
with preparations for the Saturday election in Edo.
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