By Mike ALADENIKA.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has restated it's commitment and resolve to obey the orders of competent courts as it concerns the conduct of the GOVERNORSHIP election in Edo state.
Rising from one of it's meetings, ahead of the election, where a range of issues, including the ongoing conduct of Party Primaries, the Court Orders emanating from the administration of political parties and conduct of the primaries, as well as the Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement for Security Officials on Electoral Duty.
In a press statement issued by the Electoral body and signed by the Commission's National Commissioner and Chairman,
Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, INEC noted
"that the conduct of party primaries, including resolution of disputes arising therefrom will end on Saturday 27th June 2020, while the submission of the list of candidates the parties propose to sponsor at the election and affidavits of validly nominated candidates will close at 6pm on Monday 29th June 2020."
Okoye said "the Commission will conduct a training programme for Liaison Officers nominated by all the registered Political Parties on the use of the INEC Portal for uploading nomination forms of candidates. The training will take place at the Conference Hall of the Commission on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th June 2020 in two batches, to allow for physical distancing in line with the COVID-19 protocols."
On Court Orders, INEC Said "political Parties should note that the organisation and scheduling of various activities and processes leading to the conduct of elections are complex and involve extensive and careful planning and any disruption of these processes comes at a huge cost to the nation. The spate and tenor of pre-election litigations and the conflicting orders emanating therefrom can harm the smooth conduct of primaries and the upcoming elections. The Commission is closely monitoring the cases arising from the administration of political parties, the conduct of primaries and nomination of candidates."
This notwithstanding, the Commission restates its avowed commitment to continue to obey all orders and judgements from properly constituted courts in accordance with the rule of law.
On Code of Conduct and Rules of
Engagement for Security Officials on Electoral Duty
The Commission also "considered the report from the meeting of the Inter- Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), which recently approved a Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement for Security Officials on Electoral Duty. The Code is signed by the Chairman of INEC, the National Security Adviser (NSA) as Co-Chairman of ICCES and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) as head of the lead agency in election security."
INEC however disclosed that "The Code will be uploaded on the websites of the Commission, the Office of the NSA and the Nigeria Police Force on Thursday 25th June 2020."
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