The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged political parties and their candidates to honour the peace accord slated for Friday, November 8.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the call in Akure during a stakeholders meeting, nine days to the commencement of the Ondo State governorship election.
He said the event would hold by 10am at the International Culture and Event Centre (The Dome), Akure.
The INEC chair also urged political stakeholders to abide by the rules and regulations of the peace accord.
“I invite you to honour the Peace Committee by your presence here tomorrow and, most importantly, abide by the terms of the Accord for a peaceful election,” he said.
“Before I conclude, I would like to remind you that tomorrow, Friday 8th November 2024, the Peace Accord involving parties and candidates will be signed at 10.00am at this venue.
“Our respected former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR, will preside over the occasion in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Peace Committee.”
The signing aims to ensure candidates pledge to a peaceful and violence-free election as campaigning reaches its peak.
BVAS
In his speech, Yakubu said the electoral body would use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the off-cycle poll in the South-Western state.
He stated that already, INEC has carried out mock accreditation in some local government areas in its preparedness for the election.
“Let me reassure stakeholders that INEC is ready for the election. We are deploying the BVAS machines for voter accreditation at polling units and for the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
“Only yesterday, we conducted mock accreditation in 12 polling units across six Local Government Areas in the three Senatorial Districts of the State. The purpose was to test-run our deployment of technology to safeguard the credibility of the election. I am glad to report that the mock was successful and the result can be viewed on the IReV portal.
“But let me also quickly add that the machines used for the mock accreditation and the training of officials will not be used on Election Day. We have sufficient machines for the election which have been configured for voter accreditation and the upload of results distinct from those used for mock accreditation and training,” Yakubu stated.
