By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed it sadness over the failure of the 17 political parties participating in the Edo State governorship election to nominate over 35,723 agents for polling units and collation centres in the state.
The Commission wept that out of the expected cumulative figure of 80,410 agents, the participating political parties only uploaded details of 44,687 agents on the commission’s portal.
INEC, in a statement by National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, also disclosed that uploaded details on the portal are made up of 43,043 polling, 1,452 ward, 179 local government and 13 State collation agents.
Speaking further, the election body explained that only three political parties have uploaded their agents for all levels of polling and collation while one party has no single agent for any level of voting or collation.
According to INEC, “the commission met on Thursday and, among other matters, reviewed the ongoing preparations for the Edo and Ondo State governorship elections.
“Nigerians may recall that since 2020, the commission has replaced the manual process for accreditation of observers, media, polling and collation agents with dedicated portals to which the required information, including photographs, is uploaded.
“Political parties were subsequently required to upload the details of their agents for polling units and collation centres for all elections.
“For the Edo State governorship election, the portal opened on 17th July 2024 and automatically shut down at midnight on 30th July 2024 as indicated on item nine on the timetable and schedule of activities for the election released almost a year ago in September 2023.
“In Edo State, there are 4,519 polling units and 211 collation centres, comprising 192 ward centres, 18 local government centres and the state collation centre in Benin City. A political party fielding candidate in the election is expected to nominate 4,730 agents,”
The body explained that; “from the 17 parties participating in the election, the commission expected a cumulative figure of 80,410 agents.
“However, only 44,687 were uploaded to the portal made up of 43,043 polling, 1,452 ward, 179 local government and 13 State collation agents. Put together, the 17 political parties nominated 55.6% of the expected number of agents.
“Three political parties uploaded the details of their agents for all levels of polling and collation while one party has no single agent for any level of voting or collation.
“A summary of the submissions by political parties has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information,”