The Chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has admitted that the commission made errors during the Edo State governorship election.
He assured Nigerians that these mistakes would not be repeated in the upcoming Ondo State governorship election scheduled for November 16.
The INEC boss made the remarks during a visit to the INEC state headquarters in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, on Monday.
Prof. Yakubu discussed the lessons learned from the recent Edo election and other previous polls. The main issues, he said were logistics and the management of election results.
“We have learned a lot of lessons not only from the last election but also from previous elections,” Prof. Yakubu said, noting that the commission had identified two major challenges. “The first one is logistics for election, so that polling units open promptly on election day. The second one is result management.”
For voters in Ondo State, the INEC chairman promised visible improvements. “My assurance to voters in Ondo State is that they are going to see fast improvement in these two processes,” he added.
Recall that the Edo State election in September saw Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) being declared the winner polling a total of 291,667 votes. He defeated Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party, who came in third with 22,763 votes.
However, the outcome was rejected by the PDP and Labour Party over alleged discrepancies in the election process.
In preparation for the Ondo election, Prof. Yakubu explained that his visit to the state was part of a larger effort to assess INEC’s readiness. “We have received positive reports from our state office in Akure,” he stated, “but we decided also to come for readiness assessment. So, we are here basically to look at what is happening and the good work that the state office has done.”
Yakubu’s visit included meetings with key stakeholders, such as political parties, civil society groups, the media, and security agencies, to ensure they are well-prepared for the election.