The Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) has reversed the restriction placed on movement during Saturday’s Local Government Councils election in the state.
Retired Justice James Oyomire, the Chairman, EDSIEC, said this when he spoke on Thursday in Benin.
Oyomire said that the decision was to ensure that residents do not face unnecessary hardship during the poll.
“We have looked at the issue again, the election is for the people of Edo and we do not want to cause any hardship on them.
“We are not restricting movement any longer, we believe that those who will vote, will vote whether we lock down the state or not and those who will not, will not.
“But I am pleading with the people of Edo to come out and cast their votes. I promise that their votes will count,” he said.
The EDSIEC boss said that non-sensitive materials had arrived in the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state, while stakeholders were being expected for the loading of ballot paper to commence.
“The roads are bad and if they do not leave on time, it may affect the timely start of the election process,” he said.
The chairman also said that 9,548 ad hoc staff had been deployed for the conduct of the council election.
He said that 4519 of the staff presiding officers while 4519 were poll clerks.
Oyomire said the ad hoc staff also included 300 Supervisory Presiding Officers, who would supervise about 10 polling units.
Others, he said, were 192 Ward Collation Officers and 18 Local Government Returning Officers.
On the accreditation process, the chairman said it would be manual because the law that set up the commission only recognised manual accreditation.
“We can’t see BVAS because first, we do not have it and second, the law that establishes the commission only recognises manual accreditation.
“If we will have to use the new technology, then the law must be amended,” said the commission boss.