*Speaks on dangers posed by fake, misleading news
By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday disclosed that it has left no stone unturned in its efforts to guarantee that the Edo State governorship election slated for September 21, this year, will be conducted with the highest standards of integrity.
The National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee of the Commission, Mr Sam Olumekun made the disclosure while briefing the media in Abuja ahead of the election.
Olumekun, who was represented by the Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs Mary Nkem, stressed that INEC has intensified its engagement with stakeholders at State and Local Government levels while voter education is still ongoing at all levels.
The National Commissioner equally said that the Commission is acutely aware of the dangers posed by fake and misleading news, especially during an election period.
Such information, he said, has the potential to disrupt the electoral process, undermine public confidence, and incite unnecessary tensions.
According to Olumekun, “The Commission has left no stone unturned in its efforts to guarantee that this (Edo governorship) election will be conducted with the highest standards of integrity.
“As you are aware, we have intensified our engagement with stakeholders at State and Local Government levels, while voter education is still ongoing at all levels.
“The Training of Security Personnel has been concluded, while the Training of Ad-hoc staff, i.e. Supervisory Presiding Officers, Presiding Officers, and Assistant Presiding Officers starts today 6th to the 15th of this month in Edo state.
“The Commission is concluding arrangements with the land and maritime transport unions for logistics. The printing of triplicate copies of voters’ register 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 and accreditation tags are being produced as well.
“On Tuesday 10th September 2024, the Chairman of the Commission will lead other management team to monitor the Mock Accreditation of voters in selected Polling Units in Edo state to test-run the deployment of BVAS for the election as well as the upload of scanned polling units results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal”, he said.
Continuing, Olumekun said, “In this digital age, we are acutely aware of the dangers posed by fake and misleading news, especially during an election period.
“Such information has the potential to disrupt the electoral process, undermine public confidence, and incite unnecessary tensions.
“The Commission has taken proactive steps to combat this menace, part of which is to be open and transparent in all its dealings.
“We have made it a culture to constantly update the public through you after every Commission’s meeting when decisions are taken.
“We will intensify the information flow as we move closer to the Edo governorship election. Measures have been put in place to minimize circulation of false information.
“However, we cannot do this alone. We believe that you will remain a bulwark against fake and misleading information about the Commission and the electoral process.
“We urge the public and the media to play their part by verifying any information related to the election directly with the Commission before sharing.
“Our doors are open for any inquiries, and we have established multiple channels through which the public can reach us for accurate information.
“Let us all work together to ensure that only the truth prevails during this election period”, he pleaded.
On the issue of the Media Accreditation for the election, Olumekun said, “the portal was opened on Monday 8th July 2024 and was closed yesterday, 5th September 2024. I wish to inform you that we have commenced printing of the tags and would conclude the process on Monday 9th September 2024.
“To put it on record, 122 organisations who applied for a total of 892 personnel were approved after careful review. “However, this number may reduce as some organisations who applied for a specific number did not nominate up to that particular number on the portal, while some applied, got approval and for some reason did not conclude the process on our portal.
“A final report on the accreditation and detailed breakdown will be made public soon, as we had earlier promised to publish the list of organisations and personnel accredited for the election, while same will be shared with security agencies in Edo state”, he said’.
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