The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has rescinded own decision to conduct the gubernatorial election in Edo State on Saturday, announcing it has shifted it by two weeks, now to be held on the 28th September 2016,
The commission said it would not be “teleguided” and “would not do anything that would mortgage Nigeria’s democracy”.
It said the cost of demobilising, after reaching at least 97 per cent readiness level, would be immense.
The police and the SSS had released a joint statement on Wednesday seeking postponement of the election for security concerns.
The INEC made the postponement announcement at exactly 8:00pm, during a press conference in Benin, Edo State.
Recall that the Nigeria Police Force ( NPF) and the Department of State Services (DSS), yesterday, appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the Edo governorship election scheduled for Sept. 10, citing security threat.
According to the force Spokesman, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Don Awunah, who made the joint call on behalf of the police and the DSS in Abuja, he said, credible intelligence available to the agencies indicated plans by insurgent and extremist elements to attack vulnerable communities and soft targets.
Awunah said that Edo was among the states being earmarked for the planned attacks by the extremists between Sept. 12 and 13 respectively. He said that while election was important, security agencies cannot allow the peace of the country to be disrupted. ”
We will continue to be vigilant and ensure consolidation of the successes gained in the current counter-insurgency fight. “It is in these regard that we we are appealing to INEC which has the legal duty to regulate elections in the country to consider the need for possible postponement of the date of the election,” he said.
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