Do not campaign before Saturday – INEC warns Presidential, NASS candidates

A Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo State, Mr. Mutiu Agboke, has declared that all Presidential and National Assembly candidates contesting in the rescheduled election, cannot campaign before Saturday’s new date for the first round of the 2019 general elections.

Agboke who made a telephone call to Fresh FM, Ibadan’s weekly political circuit programme, said the development to postpone the election was necessitated by the acute shortage of election materials.

“There is no window for campaigns for political parties. There is still room for governorship and house of assembly. For the purpose of our time table, we have foreclosed the campaign for presidential and national assembly elections,” Agboke added.

Asked to comment on the said logistics problem, Agboke said, “I am not a member of the committee that procured them. I am only the resident electoral commissioner. I’m only to receive these materials and when they’ve not come, I can’t fabricate materials.”

On how credible this year’s elections would be, Agboke replied, saying, “As I speak to you, we have retrieved all the sensitive materials to the state office. We have tightened up the security. We have within our premises the full presence of various categories of the Nigeria Police Force; the people in the red cap, the people in the black cap, the regular police that you know. In fact, they have been reinforced with the presence of the Nigerian Army. They are all here, knowing that we have all these materials back to the state office. So, the materials are intact; nothing has happened to them and nothing will happen to them.”

On the allegation by some politicians that election materials got to the APC without their knowledge, the REC said, “We were all there together with all the party representatives as we were sorting, counting and deploying. We all left there together around 3am. So I do not expect that kind of comment (that INEC is mischievous) from any stakeholders.

“All the materials that left Ibadan were only those ones within Ibadan local government areas. And they are just maybe North East, Ibadan North, Ibadan South West, Lagelu or so. Those are the ones. The people from Oke-Ogun, far areas had not left when the announcement was made and none of them has left since yesterday. Everything is back to the state office.

“It’s a situation somebody will just create to heat up the polity. Because as far as we are concerned, they have not been able to penetrate any of the systems here. So, there is nothing like that. As a stakeholder, one of the political parties stood up and confronted me, I told him to give me evidence, he couldn’t say anything further. Gentlemen, those are fake news, don’t join issues with them.”