By Mayowa Olumuyiwa
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Monday, gave the biggest hint yet, that the proposed elections in Ondo and Edo States will go ahead as planned despite the coronavirus pandemic.
It would be recalled that the electoral umpire had, as at last week, promised to issue a statement on the subject matter.
The commison’s head of media and publicity committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, in a briefing in Abuja, announced that the elections in both states would go ahead as scheduled.
In his statement, he noted, “We all know the challenges the country, and indeed, the world is facing with the coronavirus, and the need to continue to observe the social distancing as a means of combating the spread, so we advised political parties to embrace the online campaign method, using the social media and other technologies”
He further added, “You know, by now, we ought to have been doing registration of new voters who just clocked the voter’s age of 18, but sadly, we are unable to do that exercise also because of the pandemic. So we are going to be using the old register, which means a lot of people will be disenfranchised”.
The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic across the states of the federation, including Edo and Ondo, where elections are scheduled, has given rise to questions.
There have been enquiries as to whether the social distancing directive would not hamper campaigns and subsequently, the election.
He further stressed that as at today (Monday 11th May), the Nigeria Centre for Diseaseby Control (NCDC) says the total cases of Coronavirus in the country is 4,399 with 143 deaths recorded.
“The gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo States are slated for September 19 and October 10, 2020, respectively,” he concluded.
