Edo 2024: I’ll Tar Obaseki’s Ancestral Home Road – APC Candidate Okpebholo

• Parties, Stakeholders sign Peace Accord September 12

The All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer in this month’s Edo State governorship election, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has pledged to repair and tar the road leading to Eguaeholor, the ancestral home of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Okpebholo, who made the promise during a weekend campaign tour at Uhunmwonde Local Government Area, expressed shock that the main road leading to the governor’s ancestral home is not motorable after being in office for about eight years now.

According to the APC candidate, it is regrettable that his team had to abandon most of their vehicles on the outskirts and trek the long distance to access the campaign venue.

He said; “I will make sure I tar this road immediately when I resume office as the governor of Edo State. I am highly disappointed that Obaseki’s administration neglected even his ancestral home”.

Addressing the people at Ehor, the LGA headquarters, Okpebholo also promised to revive the Ehor Juice Factory established by the Lucky Igbinedion administration, and make the Technical College in the area functional by providing it with the needed manpower and equipment.

In another development, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said September 12, 2024, has been fixed for all stakeholders to sign the Peace Accord for the Edo Governorship election in Benin City.

Speaking at an extraordinary meeting with political parties on the 2024 Edo governorship election in Abuja, the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu said the exercise would be presided over by the Chairman of National Peace Committee (NPC) and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

The Electoral Commission boss said; “You may notice that unlike the previous peace accords signed a few days before the election, INEC decided to do this early this time. This will enable the Peace Committee to monitor compliance with the code voluntarily signed by parties, candidates, and other critical players in the electoral process such as INEC and the security agencies during the remaining days to the election.

“This will add further weight to the peace accord beyond mere ceremony as demanded by many observers and even some political actors themselves”.

He urged political parties in the state to maintain decorum and civility in their campaigns and comply with INEC’s regulations and guidelines for the conduct of rallies and processions.

Prof Yakubu said so far, no political party had submitted to INEC the dates and locations of their major campaign rallies and processions to enable better coordination of their campaign activities.

Commenting on INEC’s preparations for the poll, he said aside from training the security personnel, the Commission has finalised the delivery of the remaining non-sensitive materials for the election.

In his words; “We are concluding arrangements with the land and maritime transport unions for logistics. The printing of triplicate copies of voters’ registers for each of the 4,519 Polling Units in Edo State is virtually completed.

“The installation and configuration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to be deployed on election day is completed. Observer accreditation tags are being produced”.

Also, the INEC boss said about 88 media organisation had applied for the accreditation of 698 personnel, adding that the training of various categories of ad hoc staff would commence soon.

However, Yakubu said after harvesting details of polling and collation agents uploaded to the portal for the Edo election, it was discovered that there were compliance issues, particularly with the quality of PU agents.

Noting that the issues cut across all political parties despite assistance offered by INEC and the fact that the digital nomination was not being done for the first time, the INEC Chairman said; “I want to emphasize that there will be no going back to the manual process. It is gone for good.

“Already, observer groups and media organisations are in full compliance with the digital procedure. Political parties cannot be an exception. We will only produce tags for uploads that meet the requirements of our regulations and guidelines”.

On his part, the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), Chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, urged INEC to remain neutral as an umpire in the Edo election.

Urging INEC to ensure its election materials were adequate and ready for the tasks ahead, particularly the BVAS and IReV portals, Dantalle said the state gubernatorial poll would be a litmus test for the Ondo governorship and future elections in the country.

The IPAC Chairman said the election offers leaders of political parties, the chance to restore confidence in the electoral process by ensuring the sanctity of the ballot box and respecting the mandate of the people.

In encouraging political parties and their candidates to imbibe issue-based campaigns that would unite the people and foster development and sustainable democracy, Dantalle said; “There is no place for politics of bitterness and violence that has impeded the nation’s hard-earned democracy”.